Major Pat Barrass, Essex Regiment veteran of both Dunkirk and D-Day, died on 4 October 2021 at the age of 102.

Patrick Rae Barrass was born on 16 August 1919 in New Southgate, East London, where his father was Curate of the local parish church. He was educated at Forest School, Walthamstow, where he excelled at sport, captained the school’s shooting team, and became Company Sergeant Major in its Officers’ Training Corps (the forerunner of the Combined Cadet Force).

His school experiences steered him towards the Army, and although he passed the examination for Sandhurst in 1937 cuts in numbers deprived him of a place there. He accordingly took a commission in the Essex Regiment Supplementary Reserve of Officers in September 1938, hoping to convert to a Regular Army commission later on.

His initial Reserve training commitment was 2 months full-time. After basic training at the Depot at Warley he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, the Pompadours, also at Warley, as a platoon commander, continuing at his own expense when his initial commitment was completed. On the outbreak of World War 2 the Battalion was mobilised and moved to France on 16 September 1939 as part of the British Expeditionary Force.

During the retreat to Dunkirk he became separated from the Battalion when he went back to help one of his soldiers who had fallen out. He had to make his way across country to the coast alone. The roads were teeming with refugees and they were being constantly strafed by enemy aircraft. At Dunkirk, not having rested for days, he slept in an abandoned ambulance before being taken off the beach by the Royal Navy and evacuated to England.

As the Battalion re-formed, Pat became the Intelligence Officer, then an instructor at a tactical school, then Intelligence Officer of HQ 25 Infantry Brigade. In early 1944 he returned to the Pompadours as OC C Company and led them onto Gold Beach on D-Day before taking part in the liberation of Bayeux on 7 June 1944. Further action swiftly followed in what became known as Essex Wood when his company and A Company found themselves up against German tanks and flame throwers with negligible support. They suffered heavy losses but successfully took and held the area west of the village of Verrières.

Later, on 10 August, his company’s dawn raid to liberate the occupied strategic town of Croisilles, capturing more than 120 Germans in the process, earned him the freedom of the town; its main square is now named Place du Major Barrass.

His organisational abilities had been noted and he was selected to attend the Staff College in Haifa in November 1944. His unflappable and stalwart service in North-West Europe was marked by a much-deserved Mention in Despatches.

While at Haifa his Regular Army commission came through, and a few days after VJ-Day he was posted to Burma, initially to HQ 19 Indian Infantry Division as GSO 2 (Intelligence), then to HQ Burma Command.

In mid-1947 he moved to HQ Rhine Army, as part of the movements staff, which had, for its own use, Göring’s private railway coach, complete with kitchen, dining room, sitting room, bedrooms, and staff.

After 2 years in Germany came a posting to 1st Battalion The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment in Salonika, where he was soon appointed Adjutant. Regimental exchanges were then less common, but Pat made the effort to fit in and viewed his time with the Bedfords with great affection.

1951 saw a posting to HQ Caribbean Area in Jamaica as GSO2. He found that there was plenty to do: investigating and pre-empting Guatemalan designs on British Honduras (now Belize); taking precautionary measures against a possible communist takeover in British Guiana (now Guyana); investigating gun-running from Brazil; and organising the Queen’s visit to Jamaica.

While on the island he met and married Ann Bertram. Her father ran Barclays Bank’s operations in the West Indies so the couple were invited by Ian Fleming to honeymoon at his cottage ‘Goldeneye’.

Returning to England in 1954 Pat briefly became OC Training Company at the Essex Regiment Depot then in early 1955 joined 1st Essex in Hong Kong, first as a company commander but then again as Adjutant, his organisational skills being much in demand. After the Battalion returned to the UK, in 1956 by troopship round the Cape to avoid the newly ‘nationalised’ Suez Canal, he was posted to the Movements Directorate of the War Office where he developed reinforcement plans for use had general war broken out in Europe.

In May 1959, with the Army reducing considerably in size, he took advantage of an early retirement scheme and went to work for the Midland Red Bus Company in Birmingham. He moved to Channel Air Bridge in 1962. His responsibility was to open Southend Airport for commercial air traffic. He subsequently became sales manager with the parent company British United Airways, founded by Freddie Laker. Later he was promoted to senior manager, a position he held when the airline was taken over by British Caledonian.

While negotiating agreements with other airlines to enable seamless travel for people booking long haul flights, Pat came up with the concept of the Round the World Air Ticket. This gave travellers considerable flexibility. It proved a great success and was soon copied by others. He left British Caledonian in 1984 to join Philippine Airlines as general sales manager, based in London, and retired the next year.

In retirement he worked with the Imperial War Museum and the National Army Museum. He supplied many artefacts, including maps and binoculars, for their displays commemorating key events like Dunkirk and D-Day.

He regularly attended Regimental reunions and, aged nearly 93, took part in the last March Past of the Essex Regiment Association at Warley in 2012. Three years later, during the 70th anniversary celebrations of VE-Day, he marched unaided down the Mall and into St James’s Park. For the part he played in D-Day he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur. His last few years were spent in a care home where he was well looked after, maintaining his calm and cheerful disposition despite the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic. His funeral took place at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, West Clandon, on 25 October 2021. Colonel Charles Thomas represented the Regiment, and the Standard of the Chelmsford Branch of the Regimental Association was present.

Pat’s wife Ann died in 2017. He leaves two sons, Christopher and Timothy.

His comprehensive and enjoyable spoken memoirs can be found on the Imperial War Museum website at https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80027153

PHW
(With help from several articles written by Pat for the Essex Regiment Association journal and from his son Christopher