No. 5825347, 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, who died 24/25th May 1940, aged 29.

Roberts parents were Robert [B. Belstead 1881] and Edith Rose [B. Alderton 1884] Bishop.

Personal

Robert was born in Hasketon in early 1911 or late 1910. In the 1911 census he is 4 months old and living in Top Road Hasketon with his parents Robert and Edith, grandmother Jane and older sister Grace. He was still living in Top Road, Hasketon in 1921.

Military.

Robert was a professional soldier, serving in the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. Sadly his military records are not available at present. His battalion was part of the British Expeditionary Force sent to France in 1939. When the German army attacked France in early May 1940, and effectively out manouvered the allied forces by attacking through the lightly defended Ardennes Forest, large elements of the British and French armies fell back towards Dunkirk. This led to ‘Operation Dynamo’ – the evacuation from Dunkirk of over 300,000 men by the Royal Navy, assisted by the fameous ‘little ships’. As the armies fell back they staged a number of counterattacks and formed defensive lines around around the Dunkirk perimeter. Unfortunately we have no details, but Robert was presumably killed in one of these actions, fighting to the east of Lille, France. Cretinier Cemetary is on the Eastern outskirts of Lille. Robert’s death is menioned by his fellow villager Harry Cole in his letter written on May 26th.