Son of Ernest and Martha M. Stork from Sheffield. Husband of Olive Stork from Walkley, Sheffield.

Lance Corporal Walter Clifford Stork was a member of 1th battalion of the Norfolks. They spent the night on 13th October 1944 in the woods around Overloon. At 0700 hours the next morning the two leading companies, B and D, led off in the direction of Venray. Walter Clifford Stork was among them. Inevitably they soon came under fire from the German lines. The men took to the deep ditches either side of the road and crawled forward cautiously.

Between the woods near Overloon and Venray the countryside stretched out as flat as only Holland can be and across this bleak and wet terrain there was a drainage ditch, called the “Molenbeek”. The position of the companies was very exposed, protected only by the bank of the ditch. There was frequent shelling and mortaring.
Ahead of the troop of Churchill tanks attached to D Company was a flail tank, a lumbering monster of almost medieval design with massive chains fastened to a revolving shaft at the front of the tank chassis which flailed the ground ahead of it to explode anti-tank mines. Movement through the wood by the tanks had been restricted but now, as they cleared the timber the tanks moved outwards, left and right, the platoon spread out behind them and enemy fire increased as they became visible.

Within minutes some of the tanks had become casualties and the rest retreated to the relative shelter of the wood, leaving the platoon with Walter Clifford Stork, on their own, without support. But they continued to push forward, crouching, trying to use whatever cover they could find. The men were visible to the enemy and vulnerable to his fire. Mortar, gunfire, even of their own artillery engaging forward targets. And the enemy resisting their advance with machine-guns and 88s together with Nebelwerfers, or ‘Moaning Minnies”, producing a distinctive and frightening sound when fired.

Without the tank support progress became increasingly difficult and finally ground to a halt in light scrub about 200 yards short of their second objective, the lateral track ahead.

John Lincoln, Private soldier of the Royal Norfolk Regiment since February 1944 wrote:

“The platoon went to the ground and I checked our losses. The company commander needed to know what was happening so I went back myself using what cover I could from hedges, skirting round a blazing tank, reported the situation and a plan was made to continue the advance to the track ahead with the support of artillery and mortar fire.

Back with the platoon I found that Lance Corporal Stork, the non-commissioned officer (NCO) in platoon HQ responsible for the 2 inch mortar section, had been killed outright by a shot in the head while I was away.

Lance Corporal Stork was a married man with two small children, a kind and genuine man with whom I had often had conversations during which he told me of his family. To me he seemed a much older man, although only in his late twenties, compared to the average age of the platoon which was around Twenty-one.

His death angered me so much that when the second attack started I can remember feeling only intense, savage outrage. We got up and began moving forward. Enemy fire increased. I saw a grey-clad figure disappearing into a wood ahead of me and I fired a long burst from my Stengun at this figure, my anger making me want to kill him in revenge yet at the same time realising that my Sten was unlikely to have much effect at that distance..”

Walter Clifford Stork died on 14th October 1944 and was temporary buried at the crossroad Raayweg-Venrayseweg (H.J. Hendriks) in Overloon. On 20th may 1947 he was reburied at Overloon War Cemetery.