Raymond Barnett (Ray to everyone) was born on the 20th of October 1918 in Wribbenhall, Worcestershire; a hamlet that is situated on the left bank of the River Severn, immediately opposite Bewdley.

At that time he was the second child and first son of Bertram and Elsie Barnett (née Clarke). Ray’s dad Bertram was employed by the Great Western Railway Company as a signalman whilst mum Elsie was kept busy tending the family home on Great Western Terrace in Wribbenhall.

Ray’s big-sister was Muriel; she’d been born a year before him, in 1917.

The 1921 census confirms that Ray had soon gained a younger sister, named Mary Sybil. She was born in the year of that census.

Ray attended school in Wribbenhall.

On leaving school, Ray spent time working for the Co-operative society in nearby Kidderminster.

1938 was clearly a year for weddings in the Barnett household, with both of Ray’s sisters tying the knot; little-sister Mary Sybil married Victor Hawes and set-up home in Broad Street in Kidderminster’s Horsefair district (they later moved to Southend), whilst big-sister Muriel married William Mills, a van driver from Kidderminster. They set up home on Wyre Hill in Bewdley.

A year later and love was still clearly in the air around Wribbenhall, because in 1939 Ray married his sweetheart Ada Irene Marchant, a Bewdley lass.

In the 1939 census it’s recorded that Ray and Ada lived at number 18 East Street; a two-up-two-down in Kidderminster. The census also confirms that Ray was working as a concreter, whilst Ada was employed as a carpet setter in one of the town’s many mills.

Not too long after the 1939 census, Ray and Ada moved to a new house in Hurcott Road.

Ray’s time as a concreter was soon to come to an end however; war was declared in September 1939 and a month later, keen to “do his bit” Ray joined-up!

Records show that Ray initially enlisted with the Worcestershire Regiment, but was soon transferred to the South Staffordshire Regiment, retaining his original service number; 5253770.

Ray's service in the Worcesters is evidenced by the collar badges worn on his portrait at the foot of this story. This transfer was most likely initiated because of the need to bolster manpower in the South Staffs as they prepared for overseas deployment.

In particular, Ray was attached to the 1/6th Battalion of the South Staffs, previously a Territorial Unit.

In January 1940, Ray and his 1/6th South Staffs pals were directed to Aldershot, and after a period of training, in April they embarked as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to France. Here they were attached to III Corps and tasked with the construction of defensive positions in the Bethune area (work that Ray would have been used to as a pre-war concreter).

In May 1940, when the Germans invaded the Low Countries, Ray’s battalion moved as part of 44th Division into Belgium around Oudenarde, positioned along the River Scheldt, where on the 17th of May they came under heavy attack from the advancing Germans, causing them to withdraw to a new defence line along the River Lys.

On the 23rd of May, Ray’s battalion was in the area of Courtrai, preparing bridges for demolition in an attempt to slow down the German advance. That night they were directed to Neuve Eglise to defend III Corps headquarters and the Battalion HQ was bombed, inflicting casualties.

On the 25th of May, the 1/6th was ordered to Ypres, after detaching ‘D’ Company to remain behind and defend III Corps HQ. Subsequently, the lads in ‘D’ Company lost all contact with the rest of their battalion. One of the company’s platoons was virtually wiped-out during heavy fighting when they were overrun by German tanks. What was left of ‘D’ Company eventually made their way to the coast, in the hope of evacuation. 

The rest of the 1/6th Battalion was still in and around Ypres, and ‘C’ Company was involved in heavy fighting, inflicting serious damage to the attacking German troops. When the news came through that the Belgian army had surrendered to the Germans, what was left of the battalion pulled out and also started to make their way back to the channel ports.

Ray served in the ‘SP’ Company, meaning that he carried out a crucial task; ensuring that the front line fighting units had what they needed to operate effectively. So wherever the fighting was taking place, Ray was there - supplying the unit with ammunition, food, fuel, and other essential materials, maintaining vehicles, equipment, and weapons and even providing medical support.

So it can safely be assumed, that Ray saw more than his fair share of action as the Germans pressed on relentlessly towards the French coastline.

The 1/6th made its way towards Dunkirk – and the lads would have been aghast as they picked their way through rank after rank of abandoned British vehicles and equipment (as an SP Coy man, this would have hurt Ray more than most others!)

On arrival at Dunkirk, on the 30th of May, the battalion was turned-around and directed to act in reserve to 150 Brigade on the town’s perimeter; helping keep the Germans at bay and enabling the evacuation of other British and French troops.

Ray and his pals eventually moved to Bray Dunes and then, finally, to Dunkirk, where the battalion was evacuated at 21;00 hours on the 2nd of June, arriving in Folkstone the next morning – exhausted and bereft of equipment.

Following the Battle of France, Ray’s division was allocated a third infantry brigade, and became the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division. It remained within the United Kingdom until 1944, assigned to anti-invasion and guard duties – whilst all the time, training for a second trip across the channel for combat overseas...

On the 7th of July, he saw action in Operation Charnwood. During this operation, Ray’s 59th Division (as part of 1 Corps) was deployed to the centre of the line, between the 3rd Canadian Division and 3rd British Infantry Division as the German-held city of Caen was attacked. The operation eventually succeeded, and Caen (which had been a D Day objective) was taken.

A week later, Ray and his pals took part in Operation Pomegranate. The aim of this operation was to capture the German held town of Noyers.

Disappointingly, the town wasn’t taken due to far stiffer German resistance than had initially been expected. However, the fighting around Noyes played an important role in distracting German forces from the major British offensive, Operation Goodwood, which was launched soon after.

The attack on Noyers was always meant to be a diversion that would pin-down enemy troops, ensuring that they couldn’t be deployed elsewhere; so in this respect, it did its job – albeit at a high cost.

By late July, German frontline resistance was beginning to wilt under the effects of the ceaseless Allied onslaught; this was warfare at its most attritional and to take advantage of the German’s lack of reinforcements and equipment, General Montgomery, commander of the British forces, ordered his men to advance west towards Thury-Harcourt (in the Calvados region).

So when Ray’s division left Villers-Bocage, they were tasked with a new objective - crossing the River Orne at Grimbosq and taking the town of Thury-Harcourt.

Within 24 hours, with the aid of air cover and heavy artillery support, they'd reached Goupillières, around four miles from Thury-Harcourt. They then advanced to the banks of the Orne, only to discover that the Germans had blown up the bridge at Brie.

The Royal Engineers were called-up and a crossing was soon underway.

On the 6th of August, in the afternoon, elements of the South Staffs reached the other side of the river and began to establish a defensible bridgehead. However, the Germans (including the renowned 12th SS Panzer Division) had taken up positions the day before the crossing in the forest of Grimbosq, in the wood of Milleharts and in Thury-Harcourt itself; effectively surrounding the British troops in the bridgehead.

Any attempted breakout from the bridgehead was stopped in its tracks; a rain of shells and rockets fell on the men of the South Staffs and the 7th Norfolks (who’d crossed the Orne with them).

On the 8th of August, Grimbosq eventually fell. The British installed a Bailey bridge (a ready-to-assemble kit-bridge) which enabled Allied armour to cross the Orne and provide much needed support to the beleaguered infantrymen of the South Staffs, who’d remained under constant artillery barrage, mortar fire and sniping for some 36 hours.

On the 9th of August, Ray was killed… 

His place of death is recorded as “Sur La Mont” which is around eleven miles west of Thury-Harcourt. It’s not known whether or not Ray had been wounded and taken back to a dressing station where he succumbed to his injuries, or whether in the course of his work as an SP Coy man, he was transporting supplies and was killed mid-journey.

Three days after Ray's death, the 56th brigade and the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division launched the final assault on Thury-Harcourt, forcing the Germans to retreat. Before withdrawing, in a wanton act of pure spite, they needlessly set fire to the chateau they had been occupying, causing a library of 15,000 books, 150 family paintings and thousands of local records to be engulfed in flames.

During the Orne crossing and the attack on Thury-Harcourt, 261 British soldiers were killed – including Ray Barnett; 239 of his pals from the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division died alongside him…

Immediately after his death, Ray was buried by men of his section at La Caine, a commune in the Calvados department, around 6 miles north of Thury-Harcourt.

Today however, he rests under a Commonwealth War Graves (CWGC) headstone in the Bayeux War Cemetery. This cemetery is the largest Commonwealth cemetery of the Second World War in France and contains burials brought in from the surrounding districts and from hospitals that were located nearby (as was most probably the case with Ray Barnett).

The cemetery was completed in 1952 and contains 4,144 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 338 of them unidentified. There are also over 500 war graves of other nationalities.

The Bayeux Memorial stands opposite the cemetery and bears the names of more than 1,800 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died in the early stages of the campaign and have no known grave. They died during the landings in Normandy, during the intense fighting in Normandy itself, and during the subsequent advance to the River Seine.

At the foot of Ray’s headstone is a personal inscription, chosen by his widow Ada; it reads:

“AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING I WILL REMEMBER HIM”

Rest in Peace Raymond Barnett ~ Your bravery will never be forgotten ~ Your sacrifice                                                                                will be remembered For Evermore

FOOTNOTE: Historians have subsequently praised the effort of Ray’s division and for their actions during the Battle for Normandy (the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division suffered approximately 1,200 casualties throughout the entire Normandy campaign).

However, by August 1944, the British Army was badly short of manpower in many of its units. As Ray’s division was the most recently established formation serving within the Second Army in France at that time, it was chosen to be disbanded and its remaining men transferred to other units to bring them up to strength. Consequently, the division was broken up on the 26th of August – just seventeen days after Ray Barnett’s death - and was officially disbanded on the 19th of October 1944.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This story could not have been told were it not for the wonderful team at the Kidderminster Museum of Carpet; most especially Geoff, Jill and Jean. Very many thanks to you all. (www.museumofcarpet.org.uk)