RHODESIA Bouch, Robert Albert (Bob)

[John Robertson]

• SURNAME

Bouch ​

• FORENAME

Robert Albert (Bob) ​

• UNIT

SAS ​

• RANK

Warrant Officer Second Class ​

• NUMBER

721196 ​

• DATE OF DEATH

12th October 1966 ​

• AGE

33​

• GRAVESITE

Harare (Warren Hills) Cemetery, Harare, Zimbabwe​

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

born 17.09.1933, Dublin, Ireland​

father Robert john Bouch (1900-1979)​

mother Ethel Eveline (nee Woodnutt) (1899-1993)​

23.02.1957 married in Kensington, London​

1957 resided London​

1966 resided Salisbury, Rhodesia​

award M.C.M.​

killed in accidental explosion while loading canoes,Zambezi River ​

​

Killed in an accidental explosion at the Zambezi River, near Chirundu, aged 33 years. Major Dudley Coventry of the SAS was about to lead a team of operatives on a clandestine mission into Zambia with the objective of destroying a bridge over the Kafue River. Waiting for night to fall, the team prepared their Klepper canoes and kit on the banks of the Zambezi River, opposite the Kafue River mouth. Water-proofed pentolite charges had been packed in a suitcase and stashed in one of the canoes, ready for Bouch and Cahill to set off, with Wright and Wickenden to follow later to exfiltrate their comrades. At about 1900, disaster struck, as the explosives detonated prematurely. In the blast, WOII Bob Bouch, Colour Sergeant Mick Cahill and Superintendent John Wickenden were killed instantly, with Colour Sergeant Geordie Wright dying in Dudley Coventry's arms minutes later, the latter surviving the blast with blown eardrums. Bob is buried in the Warren Hills Cemetery, Salisbury.​