NEW BOOK - OLD BLUES WHO DIED IN WW2

[Foureyes]

A new book "Freedom, We Died For You!" will be launched on Old Blues Day, 30 April 2011. 168 pages, full colour, hardback, at an astonishing £15 per copy. This describes every Old Blue who died in the Armed Forces, plus those civilians who died as a result of enemy action. The US-based Friends of Christ's Hospital have made a very generous grant towards the costs of producing this book, so that all proceeds will go, first, to repay the balance of production costs from the Counting House, following which all proceeds will go to the Museum Fund.
From now until launch day one Old Blue name per week will be added here, together with brief notes on how they died. For full entries it will be necessary to buy the book.

6 Feburary 2011. Nigel Huntington, Pe B 1929-36. Captured in Singapore, Nigel was one of 517 PoWs taken to a Pacific island to build an airfield for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Some died during the task, but when the airfield was finished every single one of the remainder was killed - not one survived.

12 February 2011. Frank Reynolds. Mid B 1926-30. Pre-war Superintendent of Police in Burma. Parchuted alone into Burmese jungle in August 1942, captured and executed by Japanese.

19 February 2011 Stanley Beardsworth. Ba B 1912-16. Captain (S) RN. Went down with HMS Prince of Wales, battleship and flagship of Force Z, off Kuantan, Malaya, 10 December 1941.

26 February 2011. John Donaldson. Ma A 1920-27. Squadron-Leader RAF. Three Donaldson brothers were in Maine A, all joined the RAF, all were awarded DSO. John was aboard carrier Glorious sunk by German battlecruisers, 9 June 1940

5 March 2011. Ivor Rudder-Smith. Th A 1933-39. Sergeant RAFVR. Wireless operator aboard Catalina flying-boat which crashed into the River Gambia on ferry flight from Oban to Dar-es-Salaam, 11 November 1943.

13 March 2011. Sister Catherine (nee Daisy Coates). Ward 8 1908-15. Sisters of Charity. Killed by bomb in St Peter's Mission House, Wapping, during London Blitz, 15 October 1940. Buried by the parish priest, also an Old Blue (Luetchford, La B 1907-11)

17 March 2011. Geoffrey Mortimer-Booth. Col A 1929-37. Midshipman RNR. Died when HMS Kelly was sunk by bombers, 23 May 1941. The film "In Which We Serve" shows a midshipman dying in a Carley float; this was based on Geoffrey's death.

30 March 2011.John Mortimer-Booth. Th A 1925-34. Flying Officer RAF. Killed on ground in Luftwaffe bombing raid on Malta, 21 March 1942. Brother of Geoffrey (previous entry), both sons of a C.H. master.

2 April 2001. Freddie Sladen. Pe A 1928-37. Captain. Bedforshire & Hertfordshire Regiment. Took part in secret landing on Sumatra, 20 December 1942. Killed following capture by Japanese.

9 April 2011 Ronald le Good. Mid B 1934-41.Flying Officer RAFVR. Killed in raid on San Benedetto when an aircraft flying above was hit by AA fire and fell out of control onto his aircraft - all crew in both machines were killed.

16 April 2011 Michael Rennie. ThA 1928-35. Escort officer to children being evacuated to USA. Ship was torpedoed. He saved many lives, but collapsed and was drowned in the lifeboat as rescue ship appraoched.

22 April 2011 Peter McRae. ColB 1926-34. Surgeon Lieutenant, HMS Mahratta. One of small number of survivors after ship was torpedoed, Peter gave up his place on a liferaft and swam off into the darkness, never to be seen again.

This ends this brief summary of a few of the 212 Old Blues who died. The book will be launched on 30 April - please buy a copy.
David

[Mid A 15]

It sounds an interesting project David.

Will it be possible to order by mail order in due course?

[Foureyes]

"...Will it be possible to order by mail order in due course?"

Yes. Cheque for £15 + £4p&p plus discretionary donation to Margaret.
Will be in next CHA Newsletter.
David

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Interested --- I await further news.

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

From what I have studied about WW1 ---- this might well be a bigger volume !

[J.R.]

MUCH bigger

[Foureyes]

"...Hope it sells well enough to justify a 1st World War volume as well...."

A very nice thought, but I don't think you can have any idea how much work would be involved. The World War Two book has taken three years of very intensive research, and WW1 would take even longer. Many of the deaths in both wars are relatively straightforward - take the name from the CH Roll of Honour, look up the entry on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, find an obituary in The Blue, and then, provided these more-or-less agree, start consulting regimental/squadron/ship histories, and so on. The problem with those is simply the numbers involved: 200+ for WW2, 300+ for WW1.

The difficulty comes with anything just a little out of the ordinary. People who died of illness in the services, for example - I had to obtain a death certificate for every one of them to ensure that they merited inclusion and to ascertain just what caused their death. In another case, a flyingboat crash took many months to resolve - it eventually transpired that it had happened when the aircraft came down for a refuelling stop on the Gambia River. The aircraft and crew were on a ferry flight from Oban to Dar-es-Salaam. Oban did not record it becuse the crew had left them, Dar-es-Salaam did not record it because the crew had not joined them, and the West African station did not record it because the crew were in transit! To add to the confusion, two men whose bodies were found were buried in The Gambia, but three officers whose bodies were never found are commemorated on a war memorial in Malta - don't ask, I don't understand that, either.

The only two points I am trying to make are that this is not a straighforward business and that it is very, very time-consuming. So, the thought of researching the details of 300+ deaths from WW1 is just too daunting. Were it to be attempted, it would require a group of researchers/authors, it would simply take too long for just one person.

David

[anniexf]

I'd be very happy to undertake research - I've done quite a bit for myself and for friends & know my way around the various sources. If given a few names, I'd volunteer my services & even get BMD certs. if necessary!

[postwarblue]

WW1? WW2? There are also OBs who lost their lives while serving both between the wars and after WW2. Such as my Prep. friend David Price who was lost in HMAS Voyager's collision with HMAS Melbourne in the sixties. On behalf of his mother I asked the then Chaplain about putting up a plaque in the Chapel but was told that as he hadn't died in action, nothing doing.

P.S. I DO understand how much work must have been needed just to get the WW2 book published. The post above is NOT a criticism.

[Foureyes]

"On behalf of his mother I asked the then Chaplain about putting up a plaque in the Chapel but was told that as he hadn't died in action, nothing doing."

I find that very hard to understand. I can see that there might be some argument about putting his name on the Dining Hall War Memorial, as technically he did not die on active service. [Incidentally, there is a small additional tablet to the immediate left of the left-hand World War Two tablet for post-WW2 deaths, which currently bears two names: one from Korean War, one from Suez campaign).
However, I cannot see that the same applies to a tablet in the Chapel and I would have thought that some way could have been found to accommodate a small metal plaque or stone tablet. Not in my gift, however.

David

[Fjgrogan]

How odd! There are a number of plaques in or near the chapel to Old Blues who certainly did not die in action. My daughter's governor on behalf of the BSB, Doreen Martin, had a son who was a pupil at CH but died suddenly during the school holidays of an undetected heart defect - he certainly had a plaque; I cannot remember his name (possibly Clive, or perhaps Clive was his father?) I am sure I also remember seeing plaques to various others who had died at a particularly young age. Why then should others be excluded?

[loringa]

How odd! There are a number of plaques in or near the chapel to Old Blues who certainly did not die in action. My daughter's governor on behalf of the BSB, Doreen Martin, had a son who was a pupil at CH but died suddenly during the school holidays of an undetected heart defect - he certainly had a plaque; I cannot remember his name (possibly Clive, or perhaps Clive was his father?) I am sure I also remember seeing plaques to various others who had died at a particularly young age. Why then should others be excluded?

I suspect that these plaques are to students who died whilst at CH. My brother left at 17 and was killed on his motorbike at 18. Though CH was represented at the funeral by Tony Waller (who had been his Venture Scout Leader) it was made fairly clear that a plaque was not appropriate (he probably wouldn't have wanted one anyway as there was no love lost on either side when he left). Clive Martin died whilst at CH; I can't remember the details but I do remember his death, possibly after I had left.

[englishangel]

By the way, if anyone is wondering (as I did) what has happened to this week's addition, Foureyes has edited his initial post so they will all be in one place.

[sejintenej]

"On behalf of his mother I asked the then Chaplain about putting up a plaque in the Chapel but was told that as he hadn't died in action, nothing doing."
I find that very hard to understand. I can see that there might be some argument about putting his name on the Dining Hall War Memorial, as technically he did not die on active service.
However, I cannot see that the same applies to a tablet in the Chapel and I would have thought that some way could have been found to accommodate a small metal plaque or stone tablet. Not in my gift, however.
David

I have absolutely no authority to comment on behalf of the powers that be but there is a finite amount of space and you simply cannot commemmorate every deceased Old Blue. Where would you draw the line?
- the young OB who was kiled a year ago in the alps after their poll to pole expedition would come high on my list

-but a staunch monarchist might favour Lamb and Coleridge's friend Charles le Grice. Why? Had he not been educated at CH then he would not have been gg....- grandfather to Val who led the legal challenge to Camilla's wedding.

- I have no doubt that there will be 1000+ even better nominations amongst those pupils who were at CH in the past 460 years.

[Foureyes]

"I have absolutely no authority to comment on behalf of the powers that be but there is a finite amount of space and you simply cannot commemmorate every deceased Old Blue. Where would you draw the line?"

Good point, well made. On the other hand, where is the line being drawn right now?