Major Ted Hunt MVO, from Worthing, was taken to The Netherlands by The Taxi Charity to celebrate Dutch Liberation on 5 May and when the rest of the group returned to the UK, Major Ted and volunteer London Cab Driver Mike Hughes stayed behind to attend the event in Gennep.
London Cab Driver and Taxi Charity Volunteer , Mike Hughes said, “What Major Ted didn’t know was that the event he was attending today was not purely to commemorate building the Bailey Bridge during WWII but was primarily to thank Ted for his contribution to this amazing feat of engineering. Keeping this secret from him for several months was not easy but seeing the joy on his face when the penny dropped that he was the guest of honour, and the day was for him was something I will never forget.”
The wording on the sign at the site of the Bailey Bridge says ‘These two bridge segments are a tribute to the 1222 metre, 1126-ton Bailey Bridge, that English Sapper Major Edwin Hunt MVO and Dutch Civil Engineer reserve Lieutenant Constant Lambrechtsen van Ritthem planned and designed. The bridge was built between the 12 and 20 February 1945 by 7th Army Engineers of the British Second Army and this masterpiece was the longest floating Bailey Bridge of WWII.”
Major Ted Hunt, said, “It was wonderful to be here today to celebrate the courage and skill of a very brave Dutchman. It was an honour for me to work with him and it is lovely for the people here today to see and recognise the result of what he did. The bridge at Gennep was the lifeline of the war as it moved on into Germany. Constant is the man to be admired I was just his dogsbody.”
Dick Goodwin, Vice President Taxi Charity said, “Ted is a very humble man and does not take much credit for his part in the Bailey Bridge at Gennep but his advice and help in the building of this significant bridge is one of the major turning points in the final stages of the war in Europe. The Taxi Charity has brought Ted back to The Netherlands on many occasions, and it was an absolute pleasure and privilege to be here with him today.”
To find out more about the support the Taxi Charity offers veterans visit www.taxicharity.org
Left - Ted Hunt (with walking stick) with Constants son Nick Lambrechtsen (wearing the orange tie)
Right – Ted Hunt looking at the memorial
About Major Ted Hunt MVO
Before the war Ted worked as waterman on The River Thames and volunteered as a Sapper waterman in the Royal Engineers and served in the Battles of Narvik in Norway. In 1944, Major Ted Hunt commanded fifteen of the Rhino Ferries on Gold Beach on D Day. In four months, all sixty-four of these landing craft put ashore 93,000 tanks, guns and vehicles and 440,000 tons of military stores. During the last six months of the war in Europe, together with the Dutch hydraulics engineer Lt. C. Lambrechtsen van Ritthem, he advised the Chief Engineer Second Army, Brigadier "Ginger" Campbell, on the "opposed crossing of water obstacles", so that the longest floating Bailey bridge of WWII could be constructed at Gennep in the Netherlands.
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hunt_(waterman)
About The Gennep Bailey Bridge
In February and March 1945, the British Royal Engineers constructed a 1-kilometre long Bailey bridge between Oeffelt and Gennep. A magnificent technical achievement, acknowledged by the visits of Churchill and Montgomery. It was the longest floating Bailey bridge of WWII across the River Maas and enabled the progress of Operation Veritable into Germany.
About the Taxi Charity
The Taxi Charity is run by volunteer London black taxi drivers and has been supporting thousands of veterans of all ages since 1948. The charity arranges free trips to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, for acts of commemoration and days out to museums, concerts, or fundraising events in the UK, to catch up with friends and comrades.
The Charity worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure veterans received regular contact by sending out a greeting card each month, gifts to mark the 75th anniversaries of VE and VJ day, stockings at Christmas and arranging Guards of Honour at veterans’ funerals. Volunteers have also helped with regular phone calls, food shopping, transport to hospital appointments, and more recently taking veterans for their Coronavirus injections.
The charity was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in June 2021.
To fund and facilitate their work, the charity is reliant on generous donations from members of the public, businesses, and trusts.
www.taxicharity.org
For more information, to arrange interviews or to request images please contact
Christina Bowden
Bowden PR
christina@bowdenpr.co.uk
www.bowdenpr.co.uk
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