Lieutenant-Colonel J.G. Bullock
7th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment

Suddenly we heard the well-known sound of the ‘moaning minnies’—the attack was on again and back we went to our trenches, refreshed and ready to carry on the battle. It would be about 11 a.m. when by a stroke of bad luck, the commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel J.G. Bullock and Lieutenant Spendlove (intelligence officer) were killed by mortar fire.

(Your Men in Battle, 1945, 33)

Born in April 1907 in Moseley, Worcestershire, James George Bullock was a rugby player, head of a building firm, and graduate of the King Edward’s School. He joined the Territorial Army and was commissioned with the 5th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment in 1926. He was promoted to acting lieutenant-colonel in February 1942 and led the 7th South Staffords to France in late June 1944 as part of the 59th Division.

The fierce fight for the Orne River bridgehead on 8 August left 144 wounded and 31 dead, including Bullock. Less than a week later, the depleted battalion sent reinforcement drafts to other units and the 59th Division prepared to disband. Heavy casualties in Normandy and manpower shortages meant the 21st Army Group could not sustain the Staffordshire Division.