We will remember them: Emanuel School’s “Missing”

Lawrence J M Allen

Frederick W Kimber

Douglas William Lane Nichols

Bertram Alec Reader

John H Roberts

H Bay Ryley

Charles B Sach

Ivor A While

Each walked up the Emanuel School drive, out into the world of the unknown. Most young people have this feeling when they leave school; it is part of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Many young Emanuel students lie under the fields of the French countryside with no cross or stone marking where they fell. Eleven of them were united in life by their place of education and now they are united in death by being remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing which towers above the Somme.

Rising from their desks after a lesson they would soon be rising from the trenches. A scrum on the rugger field would soon be a scrum to capture an enemy objective through thick mud and pools of water. A history lesson on Wellington’s men at Waterloo would soon become a reality. At one moment their homework was learning the geography of the British Empire, the next it was defending it. They were transformed from schoolboys to soldiers within a few months.

They witnessed a life that few generations share before the engraver carved their names into the memory of European History?

On Sunday 15 September 2013 spare a thought for Bertram Alec Reader who was killed on that day in 1916 at High Wood during the Battle of the Somme. In one letter this young man wrote, “I have undergone the various emotions caused by war, have seen most things that happen in war and don’t think much of it…War is a rotten game”.

Ivor Austin While wrote, “The great thing that strikes me here is the cheerfulness of the Tommies. They march all day, are on fatigue, and in the night go on working parties to dig trenches and yet they are cheerful. None like the war, but we have never had a single case of discontent”.

After Bay Ryley was killed at Delville Wood on 5 September 1916 leading his men in an attack, his father, who had been Headmaster at Emanuel between 1906-1913, returned from America where he left a few years previously and in a letter wrote, “Perhaps you would like to add my name to the ‘Portcullis’ Pro Patria List…if so I am now a Lieutenant of the above regiment (Suffolks). I wish my name could go next to my dear old ‘Bay’s’…I was over at Emanuel yesterday to…look at the place for what, I doubt not, will be the last time…I have been ordered to hold myself in readiness to go to the Front at short notice. There I shall be at first on ‘lines of communication,’ but I mean to wriggle up into the trenches somehow, somewhere…Bay’s sword was recovered and my mother has it now, thank goodness.” Harold Buchanan Ryley was killed in Palestine on 15 December 1917.

A School party from England broke the silence when I stood on the steps of the Thiepval Memorial in January and at that moment I wondered what they made of the long lists of names of young people not much older than themselves when they fell, but who shall remain forever young not having known old age.

A name is a vacuum without a face and a story, which brings colour to the white memorial tablets. That is why I want to end the eleven Emanuel boys’ anonymity and let them be the young men they once were so future generations can visit the Memorial and see Alec, Bay, Charles, Douglas, Frederick, Gilbert, Ivor, the two Johns, Lawrence, Louis and William as they were; young men full of life, dreams and hopes, cruelly cut down in youth by a savage war.

They were Emanuel boys; they were sons; brothers; uncles; cousins. Their bodies remain missing but their memory is secure in the Emanuel family.

Emanuel School Students on the Thiepval Memorial

‘By his example he made life easier for others’ William Frank Godfrey (Emanuel 1909-1914)

William Frank Godfrey would walk through the door of 32 Bramfield Road, Battersea, a short walk up the hill until he reached Wandsworth Common and looking across from Bolingbroke Grove he would see the spire of Emanuel School, where Frank attended between 1909-1914. Down the drive and into the microcosm that is Emanuel School. In the last summer of peace we read in the Howe House cricket notes from the Emanuel School Magazine, The Portcullis that, ‘Some good hard hitting was done by Godfrey…’ He also gained special praise ‘for the hard work in which he worked for the House in the team race’ during the House athletics competition. He also took the young platoon of ‘budding warriors’ under his command as a Company Sergeant Major in the Emanuel OTC.

Within a couple of days of the outbreak of the First World War young Frank made an application to the War Office and received a Commission on August 15 1914 in the North Staffordshire Regiment. Frank had literally walked out of the Emanuel School gates and straight into the army. A local newspaper noted, ‘From the outset he perceived the struggle would be severe and prolonged, and realised that it would require each and all to give of their best. He could not resist the call of Empire in its hour of peril and grave anxiety…’.

Frank’s letters were reprinted in The Portcullis during his time on the Western Front. All the original First World War letters have since been lost and so we owe a debt of gratitude to those Old Emanuels who reprinted OE correspondence in the School magazine, for without them we wouldn’t have these precious vignettes of how Emanuel boys saw their experiences. Although letters were censored they still offer important information on the experiences of the war.

Letter Summer Term 1915

W. F. Godfrey, Esq.,
“B” Coy. 1st Nth. Staffs. Regt.,
17th Brigade, 8th Div. B.E.F.

I was first under rifle fire when in charge of a fatigue party making a communication trench, but nobody was hit. The starlights which are thrown in order to see what the enemy are up to, produce very pretty effects at night, and it is entirely by means of these that the fire is directed.

My first two days were in the support trenches, but since then I have been in the fire trenches and so far have only lost two men out of my platoon, both wounded by snipers.

On the whole the work out here is very interesting and one cannot help being fascinated with it.

Regarding aircraft the activity is entirely on one side, only once have I seen a German aeroplane and he made off rapidly when one of ours came in sight. Our men are extremely daring in the way they utterly disregard the German anti-aircraft guns.
We are billeted in the sixth line of trenches, which is on the bank of a canal.

Even that is a perfect heaven to where I am now, as my Company occupies a very advanced part of the line round a small village, which has been shelled until it is little more than a heap of bricks and a few walls, the mud is nearly knee deep in places. There are very few dug-outs and those there are, are of a very inferior quality. Mine measures two feet high by three feet square.
Frank’s next letter discusses the issue of not having had rest and his tone has changed in the course of a few months, showing the effects of what long spells at the Front could do to morale.

Letter Christmas Term 1915

For some time past the rumour has gone round each time that we came out of the trenches that we were going well back for a three weeks’ rest, but so far this rumour has never materialised, and now we are about the only Division at the front that has not been to a rest camp since it has been here. For some reason best known to higher authorities, we are leaving the trenches tonight, instead of Sunday next, by which time our twelve days would have been completed. Needless to say, rumours are rampant. Suggestions are that Arras, Hooge, Archangel, India, or our three weeks’ rest are in sight – nobody knows. Anyway, it is a wet night, and I would far rather be going out of than into the trenches, even if we go to a bivouac if leaky tents in a wood.

I am pleased to say that I. A. While and H. B. Ryley are still going strong, in fact are thriving on the air of Flanders. I wish Emanuel all good luck when next term commences.

By the time Frank was fighting on the Somme in the summer of 1916 he was with the 4th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment and was attached to the 72nd Trench Mortar Battery. The tone of the second letter suggests that he was battle weary and work with the Mortar Battery would no doubt have added to this feeling. We next hear of him in the Christmas Term Portcullis where in the Howe House notes we read, ‘It was with the deepest regret, that we heard of the death in action of Second Lieut. W. F. Godfrey. He was a Company-Sergt.-Major to the Corps, and in that position, as in all others, he worked untiringly for his School and House. To his bereaved parents we all offer our sincere sympathy, knowing that their loss is his great gain.’

Within the space of one week, Frank, Harold Buchanan Ryley Junior and Ivor Austin While, all Old Emanuel boys and all in the North Staffordshire Regiment, had been killed in action in the Battle of the Somme. Frank was killed by the explosion of a shell on 3 September 1916 a few weeks after his twentieth birthday. He was in action at Delville Wood on the last day of the battle of the same name. Frank would have seen Delville Wood as a desolate landscape, having been scared by heavy shelling in the previous months.

Frank’s Captain remembered him, ‘He was always cheerful, even under the most adverse conditions, and was recognised by his senior officers as very plucky indeed’. His Chaplain noted, ‘He was one of those who, by his example, made life easier for others.’ The newspaper article continued its commentary:

A truer epitaph of his life cannot be written, as he never spared himself in his unselfish devotion to everything worthy and inspiring. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him, and the memory of his splendid character and really lovable disposition will long remain.

Frank wouldn’t walk through the doors of 32 Bramfield again but his parents and elder sister had to and one can only imagine the sense of loss they must have felt. The South Western Star put it just right with these lines:

The debt that is owing to those young lives who answered the first call, can never be measured. They gave themselves ungrudgingly, and sacrificed all to ensure the eventual triumph of Right over Might. Among that gallant company of heroes, Second-Lieut. W. F. Godfrey truly earned an honoured place.

Today when one visits Frank’s grave there is nothing but silence, but his memory is full of the life of a young man who was cruelly cut down in youth, having known only the serene sports field of Emanuel School and the hellish French landscapes of the Western Front. He is now remembered in the Emanuel School Chapel, St. Michael’s Church, Bolingbroke Grove in addition to his name being inscribed on the St. Mary Magdalene memorial, Trinity Road, Wandsworth Common.

GODFREY, WILLIAM FRANK Second Lieutenant 03/09/1916 20 North Staffordshire Regiment United Kingdom VII. L. 10. DELVILLE WOOD CEMETERY, LONGUEVAL

“the gold ran out”: A young man’s letter at the outbreak of the First World War

Cecil Grundy

Cecil Grundy was working for Burberry at the outbreak of the First World War. Having left England two years previously he was working in their Argentinian branch. On Tuesday 4 August 1914, the day war broke out between England and Germany, Cecil wrote home to his family living near Wandsworth Common. Cecil returned to England a few months later. Cecil was twenty years old standing at 5ft 11” tall with a 35” chest. He spent four months with the Honourable Artillery Company before entering Sandhurst and being appointed to a commission in the Duke of Cambridge’s Own, The Middlesex Regiment commencing on 14 July 1915. In October 1915 he was wounded after inspecting the wire above his trench. A few weeks later he died from gangrene. Cecil’s younger brother was Ronald Grundy who you can read about in an earlier post.

Letter 4 August 1914:

Dear father, mother and boys,

Although we are so very securely away from the war it has already caused several startling and unlooked for changes in our Republic.

As was to be expected there was a big run on all the banks the first day that things began to look at all serious, and in reply the government at once ordered them to remain closed for the following week.

At the Government Exchange where they are guaranteed to give gold in exchange for one paper currency whenever it is asked for, the gold ran out the first day and they were forced to shut up shop at once. This is exactly what I expected would happen whenever a serious monetary pause arose, for I am convinced that the nation has issued millions more bills than ever it could realise if called upon to pay up.

It has already recognised that when the banks again open on Monday there is likely to be another big rush, and the government calmly proposes to meet this by issuing a further 200 million dollars in paper. This to me seems the height of folly, for though the issue will be guaranteed by the nation, everyone knows its got precious little to back up its guarantee with – always borrowing right and left and if it ever takes place it will be bound to seriously injure the credit of the nation and probably reduce the purchasing value of our banking accounts by 5 or 10%. Gold being essential to all those called to Europe in aid of their respective countries, the demand has been tremendous and the supply being meagre in the extreme its value has shot up with a bound and an English sovereign now values at $16 – it [sic] usual price being $11.45 – and by tomorrow it will doubtless be up to $20.

The first page of Cecil’s letter

Emanuel School’s Second World War Roll of Honour

Emanuel School Second World War Memorial

Emanuel School Second World War Roll of Honour

The names of 94 young men are on Emanuel School’s Second World War Roll of Honour (See link above). This is not just a list of names; it is a group of individuals, who lived but brief lives. Gaze your eyes down the list of ages and the majority were killed in action in their mid-twenties. They knew so little of life. Some had married, but all too brief was their joy before the Second World War tore them from loved ones. It must have been unimaginable to have the one you love never come home, only belongings such as a log book, a ring or some other personal item. Their photos and memories were all that was left for their parents, families and wives. Their families may have remembered that last cup of tea shared before their young men travelled the world, in daring raids at sea, terrifying battles in the sky and arduous treks on land, fighting across the globe to defend a way of life.

I would often gaze at the Second World War memorial when I was at school. These young men sat where I once sat, in silent prayer or full song. Unlike them I have been privileged to live in a time of peace and it is fitting to pay tribute to those who fought for it.

Emanuel School rowing IV 1935 having won Staines Regatta

Among these names are those of Alan Skillern, who became a Major in the 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers and who in 1935 was Captain of Boats at Emanuel. Seen in the photo above, first from left, winning Staines Regatta in 1935. Alan was killed fighting in the Italian Campaign, near the Garigliano river in January 1944 and was discovered by his school friend, Stanley Charles Warner who was also in the 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers and who lost his life a year later. In the same photo is Kenneth Millist, second from left, a Battle of Britain pilot who was shot down and killed in North Africa in 1941. Also in the photo is Howard Gordon Cross, first from right, killed at Dunkirk. They look such happy young men, winning a race, sadly to be cut down in youth only a few years later.

Emanuel School’s First World War Roll of Honour

The First World War Memorial

The names of 145 Emanuel boys and masters appear on the School’s First World War Roll of Honour. Since I started my research I have added 15 new names to the School’s Roll of Honour which do not appear on the School’s First World War memorial. In addition I have discovered the names of 5 Old Emanuels (OEs) who were originally included on the memorial but who are now known to have survived the war. The new Roll of Honour was compiled using the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database and the School’s original Pro Patria lists, several versions of which were produced.

Emanuel School First World War Roll of Honour

Interesting notes:
12 OEs are remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing.
4 OEs were killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The pre-war Headmaster, Harold Buchanan Ryley and his son H B Ryley Jr. are included on the Roll of Honour.

Service for the unveiling of the Emanuel First World War memorial 1923

Emanuel’s Fallen Across the Globe

Here are two links to maps which show where Emanuel School’s Fallen from both world wars are either buried or remembered. Whilst the First World War fallen are mainly concentrated in France, those who fell in the Second World War are buried across the world from Nassau to New Britain Island.

First World War

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=214398614737166793049.0004d3523121d4681e40b

Second World War

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=214398614737166793049.0004d183e77d786413541

Five of “The Few”: Emanuel’s Battle of Britain Pilots

Emanuel School educated 5 of “The Few” who defended Britain against German invasion in the summer and autumn of 1940 in what became known as The Battle of Britain. By October 1940 around 544 Fighter Command pilots, including one Old Emanuel, had been killed.

Horace Stanley “George” Darley 609 Squadron

History tells us that George Darley (OE1925-32) was a pilot “Ace” which means he had been involved in destroying at least 5 enemy aircraft. His totals are: 3 destroyed; 3 probables and 2 damaged. One of the Spitfires he flew in the Battle of Britain currently hangs from the ceiling of the Imperial War Museum. Darley was an Emanuel School all-rounder, as well as being Captain of Boats he also represented the school at rugby, fives, swimming and shooting. The shooting was to come in handy as Darley was a tremendous pilot and is often mentioned in books detailing the Battle of Britain, including James Holland’s recent book which pays tribute to the clever flying tactics Darley used. After leaving Emanuel and having gained Certificate “A” in the Officer Training Corps George applied for a commission in the RAF, and by the time the war started he was training other pilots in France. After being mentioned in Despatches he escaped back to the UK and was to fly continually through the Battle of Britain. Here Darley explains in his own words what he observed and how he came to make the vital change in tactics which subsequently reduced the number of pilots being killed:

“On return to the UK in June 1940 I was posted to a spitfire squadron in Essex. After 3 sorties I had discovered how NOT to command a fighter squadron, and on 28th June was pleased to be given Command of 609 spitfire squadron. This squadron suffered casualties in Dunkirk, and I closely questioned the pilots on how the losses were incurred. To me it was apparent that the main causes were too rigid a formation and no knowledge of deflection shooting. With my flying instructor background I considered these and other causes as yet another flying problem which eventually led me to examine all aspects of a fighter sortie from take off to landing. The squadron was then moved in July where I was to put my unproven theories into practice.”

In the following months he led more than 80 successful missions, with the loss of only 7 pilots.

In an interview years later another 609 Battle of Britain pilot John Bisdee remembered the role Darley played, “We got a rarely good regular Air Force CO called George Darley who really pulled the squadron together, we’d lost all these experienced pilots, they had probably been lost because lack of training, a lot of them never saw what hit them…under George Darley we were sent to Middle Wallop, this fellow Darley was an absolute first class chap and he worked at us and did a very good job at getting the squadron re-established and trained and then of course the Battle of Briatin was on us…” He continued by describing Darley’s tactical contribution, “The great contribution of people like this chap George Darley to us was that he flew as a target and trained us to attack from out of the sun to do quarter attacks to do head on attacks and so on…”.

Darley proved to be an exceptional leader, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), for his contribution to the Battle of Britain, in the autumn of 1940, and his achievement is noted in the Emanuel School Magazine The Portcullis.

Colin Dunstan Francis 253 Squadron

Whereas Darley went on to fight throughout the war, in amongst other places the Far East, the life of Colin Francis (OE1932-39) was cut very short in that fateful summer of 1940. Sadly, the law of the RAF jungle dictated that rookie pilots often flew the oldest, slowest or most damaged planes. Also, statistics showed that there was a very high mortality rate of novice pilots flying in their first five missions: there was no such thing as beginners luck in the Battle of Britain. Sadly, Francis died on his maiden voyage of August 30th. He was killed under exceptionally brave circumstances, he had set off on a sortie with two other fighters to attack a much larger force of bombers and fighters. Being his first encounter with the Luftwaffe it is hard to imagine how he must have been feeling that morning. He was shot down and reported missing, however, his body and plane were not discovered until 1981 when an excavation in a Kent farm uncovered Hurricane L 1965 with a pilot’s body still in the cockpit. It proved to be Francis, whose body and craft laid untouched in time for 41 years. He was buried with full military honours at Brookwood Military Cemetery, and the story was widely reported in the press at the time as “The Lost Boy”. He was flying one of 3 planes who went up against 75 German aircraft, Group Captain Gleave who survived the battle stated: “after Brown was shot down, Colin and I went in by ourselves. We went right into the middle of them and I never saw him again. He was a damned fine kid and full of guts.” Pilot Officer Carthew added “we were close friends and were known on the Squadron as Tweedledee and Tweedledum”. These days the term hero is bounded around far too easily and frequently, actors, rich sports stars and spoilt musicians are quite undeserving of this monikor, however, the likes of Colin Francis certainly are.

Harry Arthur Robin Prowse 266 & 603 Squadrons

Harry Prowse (OE1932-39) also joined the RAF straight after school, where he was a scholar, a musician and an actor, his final performance being in “Saint Joan” in the Winter of 1938. When he died aged 89 the obituary in The Guardian noted “As a handsome Spitfire pilot, he rarely had to buy his own drinks. But at the age of 19, he was fighting in the Battle of Britain, and by the time he was 20 he had been shot down twice, interrogated by the Gestapo and shipped off to the notorious Stalag Luft III PoW camp”. After being shot down for the first time in northern France Harry escaped back to England. However, after shooting down two Messerschmitt Bf-109s he was himself shot down on 4 July 1941 by none other than Luftwaffe ace Josef “Pips” Priller, who was later depicted in the film The Longest Day. Like many others Harry found it difficult to talk about his wartime experiences. After surviving a forced march through Poland in January 1945 he arrived back in the UK around VE Day. He rejoined the RAF after the war, however, he found it difficult to settle in the UK and emigrated to Brazil to grow oranges, where he remained until his death. At his funeral, the Brazilian Air Force staged a fly-past.

Harry Prowse (left), shortly after his capture with Luftwaffe pilots Rolf Pringle (centre), and Josef Priller (right).

Brian Robert Noble 79 Squadron

Brian Noble (OE1927-33) was both a rower, and like many future service men, a member of the Officer Training Corps. On 28 August 1940 he claimed a share in shooting down a Heinkel 59. On 1 September he was shot down after Combat with Bf 109’s over Biggin Hill, and baled out of Hurricane L2062. He was wounded and landed at Marley Lake Riverhead being admitted to Sevenoaks Hospital. Having needed surgery for his wounds he became a member of the famous Guinea Pig Club for RAF pilots who had been badly burned in the process of fighting and who required facial reconstruction. He was released from the RAF in 1946 but rejoined and retired with the rank of Wing Commander in 1969.

Kenneth Milton Millist 615 & 73 Squadrons

Kenneth Millist (OE1931-35) is another OE who had a celebrated school career. He was both a top rugby player and rower and was part of a very strong rowing squad in the mid 1930s recording many good wins at Staines, Twickenham, Reading, Richmond and Kingston Regattas. He appears in a slew of school rugby and rowing photos, littered with fellow boys who were to die in the coming war. Millist joined the RAF in 1939 and flew in squadrons 73 and 615 in the Battle of Britain, before seeing further active service in Libya and the Middle East where he was killed. In February 1941 he was shot down over Benina and evaded capture for 3 days by trekking 60km in the desert before meeting friendly Australian forces. After returning to his squadron he was killed in action on Monday 7 April 1941. It is believed that he was shot down by ground fire. He was 22 years old, and is remembered on the Alamein Memorial and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. His commanding officer provided further details on the award: “Attacking an enemy aircraft and driving it off, then landing after the raid without exterior aids. PO Millist displayed exceptional courage, initiative and devotion to duty throughout the whole of the raid and showed complete disregard for his own safety.”

They defended their country when they were in their early twenties. They were remarkable young men who sacrificed so much for so many and they deserve to be recognised. From the corridors and classrooms of Emanuel School on Wandsworth Common to the skies above Britain they contributed no small part to saving western civilisation from Fascism.

Daniel Kirmatzis and Tony Jones.

“Take care of Christopher”: Hope and sorrow in war

Arthur Daniel Willett was a keen cricketer at Emanuel. He attended the School between 1925 and 1933. Details about his service career are currently sketchy but it is known that he was captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell in February 1942. On 7 January 1944 an article appeared in the local Battersea newspaper, the South Western Star, which announced that Arthur’s father, Mr. Thomas Charles Willett, (who was the Mayor of Wandsworth’s secretary) and Arthur’s wife, Betty Moira Bell Willett had received information that he was alive and that he was in No. 4 POW Camp Thailand. In his letter to his wife he wrote, “Take care of Christopher“. Christopher was born after the fall of Singapore and never had the opportunity of seeing his father. The following year having had no more news of Arthur a second article appeared in the South Western Star on 19 January 1945. This time hope was turned into sorrow, the headline read, “Mayor’s Secretary Informed of Son’s Death“. For a whole year his family thought he was alive, not knowing that shortly after he had sent news home in 1943 he had died.

Arthur was a private in the 5th Battalion Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. We know that he was listed as prisoner 5955656. He was a POW for 22 months before dying of ulcers on 8 December 1943. One can only imagine the inhumane conditions Arthur would have experienced in those 22 months and perhaps the thought of home, his wife and the son he never met gave him the strength to survive for so long. A mere decade before he had been running across the Emanuel School cricket pitch on a summer’s day. He was 28 when he died. Originally buried in the camp in which he was a POW, Tasao No. 2, his remains are now buried in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. It is likely that Arthur was involved in the construction of the infamous Burma-Thai Railway.

If anyone has any further information about Arthur’s war service then please do leave a message.

The day before: One soldier’s last letter home before the opening day of the Battle of the Somme

2nd Lt. Ronald Edwin Grundy was 19 years old when he was leading a platoon of the 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment on the 1st July 1916. Just before 7.30 am he was shot through the throat by a German sniper. He fell instantly but less than a day before that fateful moment he had written home to his mother. On the eve of the 97th anniversary of the opening day of the Battle of the Somme I reproduce the last page of his letter. The family received the letter on 4th July 1916.

Before he was killed Ronald bequeathed money to be left to Emanuel School for a trophy to foster the inter-house spirit. In addition to the trophy a chalice was made for the School Chapel in Ronald’s memory.

Ronald’s body was originally buried close to where he fell but due to continued fighting his body was lost. A grave stone in Ovillers Military Cemetery bears his name but his remains are believed to be buried nearby. Today we remember Ronald’s bravery and the sacrifice this young man made all those years ago.

Ronald’s older brother Cecil died of wounds in November 1915 after being hit by a sniper on the evening of 28 October 1915 and is buried in Bethune Town Cemetery. Ronald’s younger brothers were too young to fight in the First World War but one, Jack Grundy served in the Second World War and having attended Emanuel School as a boy later became Headmaster at Emanuel between 1953-1963.

With thanks to the Archive Modern Conflict for the letter.

Emanuel Generations at Dacre Day

70 years ago this November Bill Taylor was captured on Leros and made a POW. He spent 17 months as a POW being transported to various camps including Brunswick Oflag 79. Today he was at Emanuel School where I was able to show him the boards detailing his war service, prepared by the Emanuel Archivist Tony Jones using my research, which will be displayed at the Emanuel School War Exhibition in 2014. I also introduced Bill to the cousin of Seymour Pike and her husband. Seymour Pike was the lead signalman on Motor Gun Boat 314 and was awarded the DSM for his part in the St. Nazaire Raid in 1942.

Bill also met the second cousin of an Old Emanuel who used to be in his class in the 1930s. All round it was a special day and particularly on Armed Forces Day. One is often reminded of how much we all owe Bill’s generation for the sacrifices they made for the Free World.