Page 5

BR
E
Baxter
Sword

Private Hubert Victor Bury Baxter, age 25 at D-Day, a driver of a Bren-gun
carrier in an anti-tank section of the 1st Battalion King ’s Own Scottish
Borderers, attached to the 9th Brigade of the British 3rd Division.
His nickname was "Chug”. He came in on a LCT which contained 12 vehicles which
included Bren Gun carriers each towing a 6-pound anti-tank gun.
The sergeant in charge of his Bren Gun carrier -- Sgt. "Dinger" Bell -- never had
seen eye to eye with him and for that matter, neither had Baxter. Prior to
D-Day, Private Baxter had presented himself before his sergeant and saluting
smartly had said, "I demand a transfer because I frankly don ’t like you, Serge."
To which Bell just as bluntly said, "Baxter, you’re bloody well detailed to me
as a driver, and that ’s where you’re bloody well going to stay." So a row
had been brewing up between them for a long time, and even though this was
D-Day Baxter didn’t feel the slightest bit co-operative towards the Sergeant
and visa versa.

The Bren gun carriers were started in the LCT as they made their run in towards
the beach. Baxter was sitting low in the carrier because he was the driver
and the sergeant was sitting at his right on a higher level because he was the
commander. One of the irritating things that Baxter did not like was that every
time the sergeant wanted his attention, he would bang him on his tin helmet with
his left hand and yell in a most exasperating way, "Bash on, bash on." He said
to Baxter, "Wind up your bloody seat so you can see where you’re going when we
get out of this thing." Baxter said "No bloody fear, I’m staying down here."
There were 5 men altogether aboard this Bren gun carrier , the driver, the sgt.,
a Bren gunner, and the crew of the anti-tank gun which they were towing.
Baxter ’s Bren gun carrier was the second off the LCT, and when they came off
they went into about 4 ft. of water which they negotiated successfully, and
once on the beach they immediately removed the canvas water-proofing.
Ahead of them they could see white tapes leading through the mines on the beach
and to their left and right lots of obstacles, wrecked self-propelled guns,
many beached landing craft and dead and wounded. They drove up off the beach
after some time and on to a road. On the right was a big dug-out which was
being used as a First Aid post. It was as they passed this dug-out that
Baxter saw his first dead Germans. He hopped out of the Bren gun carrier
to have a look at his steering gear which was not functioning right. As he did,
he noticed that the driver of the carrier ahead of him had jumped out also to
pick up one of the rifles belonging to a dead German.

In an odd way this seemed a horrible thing to Baxter, and he
could not help
but think about the Bren gun carrier/ [insert] driver [end insert] He yelled out at him, "If anybody
ever deserved to get the same thing, you do," to which the driver
replied,
"Listen mate, even if it had been you I’d have done the same thing." At this
Sergeant Bell exploded and yelled , "Of all the bloody fools; bash on."

There was a lot of sniping and mortaring now as they drove on the road cleaning
off the beach. To his right Baxter saw his good friend, Private Jimmy Mills,
driving his carrier in another column. As they passed that column by, Baxter
yelled over, "Good luck, Jimmy, it ’s your turn next."

The pair had been together for almost 3 1/2 years and as Baxter ’s vehicle clanked
by he could not help but remember one funny thing about Mills: he had hair
like barbed wire which he could never comb. But he was quite sure that on this
day of all days Mills wasn’t worried about his appearance.

Suddenly he heard a heavy explosion behind him. Instinctively he stopped his
vehicle and turning round saw Mills' carrier in flames after receiving a
direct hit. Everybody on board had been killed and his pal was severely burned and wounded. The commander of that carrier, a Lance Corporal, had received
news only the day before that his wife had given birth to a daughter. Baxter
was stunned by the sudden and terrible explosion and was momentarily frozen.
He was brought back to reality by the roar of Sgt. Bell, "Bash on!"