On this Remembrance Sunday, I am giving in this post some entries from the Hastings and St Leonards Observer’s “On active service” section during World War II. The initial dates are of the newspaper issue. Links are to the official record in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website. I have added a few notes from the CWGC records in brackets.
15 June 1940:
BRIGHTWELL, B.J., R.A.S.C., the much-beloved fiance of Ivy Lovack-Land, 35, Chapel Park-road, and youngest brother of Mrs Thombury, 33, Chapel Park-road, killed on active service, May 20th, aged 26 [Bernard John Brightwell, buried Abbeville, France].
MOLYNEUX. – Killed in action leading his platoon in Flanders, 2nd Lieutenant T. Claude S. Molyneux, aged 28, the dearly-loved elder son of Arthur S. Molyneux, 40, Springfield-road, St Leonards, Sussex – “Greater love hath no man but this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” [Thomas Claude Seifferth Molyneux, East Surrey Regiment. Buried Belgium].
19 October 1940:
BALL. – On September 25th, 1940, Lieutenant John Patrick Brooke Ball, R.A.M.C., killed in active service, aged 26, younger son of Major Ball and Mrs J.D.M. Ball, of St Leonards [Buried Gibraltar].
25 January 1941:
PEACHAM. – Trooper E.A. Peacham, killed on active service, youngest son of Mr and Mrs T.O. Peacham, 130, Old-lane, Hollington, St Leonards [Edward Arthur Peacham was of the Royal Tank Regiment. Buried Egypt].
5 July 1941:
BELDERSON. – Reported missing from an operational flight Coastal Command in July, 1940, now officially presumed killed in action, John Buchanan Belderson, aged 20, dearly loved only son of Mr and Mrs W.E.L. Belderson, Silverhill, St Leonards [Aircraftsman, 201 Squadron. Remembered at the Runnymede Memorial].
COCKS. – Killed in action in June, 1941, Lieut. Pat Cocks, R.N., son-in-law of Mrs Hallam, 52, West-hill, St Leonards [Arthur Patrick Cocks of HM Trawler Beech died 22 June 1941, age 30. Buried Thurso. Wife Monica Streaton Cocks was of Grimsby].
13 September 1941:
MARTIN. – In September, following operation in India, Sister Hilda Iris Martin, Q.A.I.M.N.S., aged 42, dearly-loved daughter of Mrs S.J. Martin, of 3, Victoria Flats, East-ascent, St Leonards, and the late Mr Alfred Martin [Died 1 September 1941 age 41. Mother was Sarah Jane Martin. Buried Karachi].
26 September 1942:
POPE. – In September, 1942, reported missing as the result of air operations, Pilot Officer John Gorton Pope, R.A.F.V.R., beloved younger son of the late Dr Charles A.W. Pope (killed on active service 1917) and of Mrs Pope, of 7, Sedlescombe-road South, St Leonards, aged 29 [Of 202 Squadron. Died 10 September 1942 age 29. His father Captain Charles Alfred Whiting Pope, RAMC, died 4 May 1917, age 39, and is remembered at the Savona Memorial, Italy. The son is remembered at the Malta Memorial].
I remember my uncle at this time, Capt N Lushington killed at the battle for Caen in June 1944, and a cousin Lt Alan Mather killled at Falaise France in July 1944, also his brother Major Michael Mather killed in Germany just ten days before the end of WWII.
The tragic waste of young lives