On 31 Oct 1944. Sergeant John Lockhart Hickman, RCE, was killed by mortar fire helping to erect a Bailey bridge which bears his name, over a canal at Retranchement, Belgium during the Battle of the Scheldt. Sgt Hickman served in the 6th Field Company. A monument now stands at the site of the original Bailey bridge.
Here is an extract from The History of the RCE describing the circumstances under which the bridge was built:
The last stage (clearing the Breskens Pocket) began on the 30th, when both the 8th and 9th Brigades got troops over the Uitwaterings Canal. Beginning at 0530 hours on the last day of October the 6th Field Company bridged the Canal near Retranchement. Lieutenant J. H. Alexander won the Military Cross for his efforts during the operation; to allow an early start, he had crossed the Canal and carried out the necessary detailed reconnaissance before a bridgehead had been established. The bridge opened at 1500 hours. The engineers lost one man seriously wounded by a Schü Mine (buried in the floor of a roadside slit trench) and, later in the day, Sergeant J. L. Hickman was killed, and five were wounded, when the enemy shelled the bridge site.