Deddington men and women who served in the Second World War and returned
Michael Allbrook had already researched those who had died in WW2 - which can be browsed in the War Memorial article - but we did not have a list of those who had served and returned safely. Initially I focused on 'Deddington born' residents but quickly realised that there are/were many people who lived or still live within our parish who were not Deddington born but, nonetheless, deserved for their contribution to be recorded.
I have been assisted by many people - notably Bill & Joe Cowley, Daphne Canning, the Clarke, Garrett, Malcher and Harper families, Joan Haywood, Arthur Lewis, Joyce Minnear and José Stevens - and, of course, all those people who served and are still resident in Deddington or, if deceased, their relatives. I am extremely grateful for everyone's willingness to help me but I would emphasise that the compilation and editing of this section and also the section covering those who served and returned from service post 1945 has been entirely my responsibility. I have tried to cross check everything but if errors remain I can only apologise and ask you to tell me by email or by telephone to 01869 338384.
* denotes brothers/sisters D denotes deceased date unknown Click on blue links for images and/or more information.
ROYAL NAVY
Sidney (Sid) William George BERRY* (1920- 2006) Leading Cook
A Deddington resident all his life and a baker by trade, he was immediately made a cook on volunteering for the Navy in September 1940. He served on HMS Mashona (March - May 1941) including the Lofoten raid and the hunt for the Bismarck; shortly after this Mashona was sunk by aircraft. He then served on HMS Ashanti (July 1941 - December 1942) during which time it took part in Operation Pedestal (see also the entry for Fl Lt Robert Churchill RN who died on the same operation) In October 1943 he volunteered for the submarine service thinking this might be safer! In May 1944 he joined HMS/M Selene in the Far East where she sank five Japanese sailing vessels and three coasters, and damaged another sailing vessel and coaster. He transferred to HMS S/M Vivid in July and left her and the Navy in March 1946 back in the UK.
Oral recordings and other details of his naval service (and his life in Deddington in the 1930s) can be found/downloaded from HERE.
Frank Reginald BIGNOLD* (1923-1998)
Anthony (Tony) BOLTON (1920 – 2010) Lieutenant Commander (Supply Officer)
Served in the Royal Navy throughout the war and afterwards to leave in the mid 1950’s. After a brief spell in commerce he re-enlisted in the RAF (see From 1945 onwards)
Robert CALLOW* (1923 - D)
George GODFREY (b1913 - D) Stoker Petty Officer
Joseph (Joe) W HIORNS (1920-1997) Leading Stoker.
Brother in law of CQMS Bill Minnear. Served with Ldg CK Berry in HMS MASHONA. He had left Mashona before she was sunk but then his next ship (unknown) was torpedoed and sunk by a submarine.
James (Jim) LEWIS (1921- D)
Subsequently emigrated to New Zealand
William (Bill) John MALCHER* (1925-1997) Leading Telegraphist
The first of three brothers to sign up. He served on Atlantic convoy escort duty much of the time. More details about the Malcher brothers can be found HERE
Kenneth TARLING* (D)
Percy TUSTAIN
WOMENS ROYAL NAVAL SERVICE
Avis BOLTON neé Bell (1926-2008)
Stephanie HIGHAM neé Pigott (b 1920)Third Officer Special Duties
Stephanie was a linguist and was trained to read German radio messages. She was on duty at Dover the night of D Day. More about her war experiences can be found HERE.
Edna SEWELL née Evans (b 1925) Wren
Edna joined in 1943. Her subsequent experiences as an 18 year old in uniform and away from home for the first time makes interesting reading. She mainly worked on preparing signal books for merchant ships on out bound convoys and for D day. Her memories can be found HERE.
ROYAL MARINES
William (Bill) COWLEY (b1925) Corporal
46 Commando. D Day landings on Sword Beach followed by the liberation of Northern France. Severely injured when advancing close to the Belgian border. He 'woke up' 2 months later in hospital in Bath. A full account of his experiences can be found HERE
ARMY
Kenneth (Ken) BERRY*
Brother to Ldg Cook Sid Berry above.
William (Billy) BIGNOLD *(D)
Arthur BLISS (D 2004) Sergeant
Ox & Bucks LI Served in Ireland, Italy and Germany
William (Bill) BOYD (1915 - 1994) Sergeant
Awarded Belgian Crox de Guerre
David James BRAIN (1911-1988)
Royal Artillery. Served with the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy.
Leslie BURTON (D)
Prisoner of War in Germany
Ernest CALLOW (D)
not related to Robert (RN) or Kenneth (Army) Prisoner of War Burma
Kenneth CALLOW* (D)
Royal Army Service Corps
Arthur Edward CLARKE* (1910-1982) Lance Corporal
Royal Engineers. Served in France, Belgium and Holland.
Leonard John CLARKE* (1912 - 1973)
Ox & Bucks then transferred to Royal Hampshires. Wounded in the leg in North Africa, recovered, but then was wounded in the same leg at Salerno! This time he was invalided out. He married Jean Woolley who was a Land Girl working in Deddington.
Ox & Bucks Light Infantry. Wounded in the back by shrapnel while in Normandy.
Ox & Bucks Light Infantry. Served in Greece and Italy
Ox & Bucks LI then REME. Served in India
Peter FRANKLYN (1923- 1998) Lance Corporal
Served 1942- 1947 in the Royal Armoured Corps - 10th,7th & 3rd Royal Tank Regiments - through France, Belgium and into Germany. More about Peter and his wife Pauline, who was an evacuee from London, can be found HERE.
Thomas (Tom) William GARRETT* (1920 - 2000)
Joined the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry (1939 - 1946). Served in the Far East (Burma Star). He did not like talking about his experiences - which he implied were pretty tough - so his family know very little about his service time. Brother to Mary and Ken (below) John (farmer) and Francis (killed in the war). More about Tom and the Garett family can be found HERE.
Albert Edward (Ted) HARPER (1920 - 1976) Private
Ted enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment at the outbreak of war was part of the British Expeditionary Force that retreated from france via Dunkirk. He was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW. His story,told by his daughter Marian, and photographs can be found HERE.
Ronald Ernest HARPER (b 1912) Corporal
Royal Artillery
John HODGES M.C.(b 1922) Captain
Joined the Royal Armoured Corps on the outbreak of war. He served in Egypt, Italy, Syria and Palestine. A full account of his time and the action he was involved in for his medal can be found HERE
Norman HORE *
Arthur HUMPHRIES (D)
Royal Tank Regiment
Served through Europe
William (Bill) IVINGS (1921-1999) Corporal
He was a member of the Deddington Home Guard as a despatch rider before joining the the Royal Army Service Corps, Transport Division, driving 3 ton Bedford Trucks and DUKWs (amphibuous vehicles) in 1940. He Served in Egypt and Germany where he was present for the liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp. He always said that Belsen was the only place where he saw British soldiers queuing for injections rather than for their food rations! For more photos follow this link
Royal Irish Fusiliers. He became a POW following the capture of Leros by the Germans in November 1943. The story of this campaign is the basis for the film 'Guns of Navarone'. Ted's account of this battle, in which he won his decoration, and subsequent transport to and internment in Germany can be read HERE.
Leslie (Les) LEGERTON (1916 - 2006) Private
Foster brother to Billy Hunt. Served in No 7 Battallion of The Worcestershire Regiment in India and Burma. There are more pictures and photographs in the Gallery including two pieces of embroidery of the Regimental crest that his family think he did while in hospital. He left the army in 1946 and moved to Steeple Aston and later to Banbury. His war experiences - including having only one pair of glasses for the whole of his time in India & Burma! - are told in a 2004 Banbury Guardian article "Survivors of the jungle trenches" and also in the Soldier, an Army magazine. To read more about Les and see the photos and articles click HERE.
Arthur LEWIS (b1927) Sergeant
He was called up for National service aged 18 in April 1945 i.e. while the war was still on. He joined The Ox & Bucks Light Infantry at Goojerat Barracks, Colchester. While he was still training, the war ended with Germany, but the war in the Far East with Japan was still going on. He expected to be eventually sent out there; however, the Americans dropped the H-Bomb on Japan and in August 1945 the conflict ended. He was selected to be a weapon training instructor for platoons of 33 men as they were called up for National Service, with a Platoon Officer and 2 Corporals and a Lance-Corporal. He instructed the use of rifles, bayonets, Bren machine guns, Sten guns, the Piat anti-tank guns,the Mills hand-grenade and 2 " mortar;also field craft and map reading, tear gas and how to treat mustard gas. He was then given the job of training 33 Danish men who had joined the regiment. He was de-mobbed in 1948.
George LOWTHER
Arthur Denis (Denis) MALCHER* (b1926) Private
The second of three brothers to sign up he served in the Royal Army Ordance Corps. More details about the Malcher brothers can be found HERE
William (Bill) Henry MINNEAR (1912-1997) Company Quarter Master Sergeant
Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry. Served in Crete, India and the occupation of Leros, Greece. Like Capt Ted Johnson, he also became a POW and spent over 2 years in German camps. The occupants of his final camp underwent a forced march of 400+miles in mid winter before meeting up with advancing US forces. His story can be found HERE.
Thomas (Tom) Charles PRATT* (1916-D)Private
1940 joined Somerset Light Infantry
Kenneth (Ken) SMITH (1916- 2009) Trooper.
Enlisted in 1937. Served with the BEF in France and evacuated via Dunkirk; then served with No 4 Royal Tank Regiment at El Alamein, Tobruk and Monte Casino. See RTR Roll of Honour
Frank TARLING* (1924-1997)
Taken prisoner after Battle for Monte Cassino in Italy
Joe TARLING* (D)
Francis (Frank)TUSTAIN (1915 - 1988)
William (Billy) TUSTAINWounded
George UNSWORTH (D)
Anthony (Tony) VINCENT (D)
Ox & Bucks Light Infantry
THE AUXILIARY TERRITORIAL SERVICE (ATS)
Ivy BUSBY née Coulton (b1920)
Ivy joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in June 1942 and served until 1945. She was posted to London and worked on the maintenance of heavy artillery.
Margaret Tibbett
Mary Tibbett
ROYAL AIR FORCE
Frank BOWLER* (1898 - 1989) Squadron Leader.Frank served in the Royal Flying Corps in WWI. In this war he served as a transport officer in South Africa where he was appointed acting Wing Commander.
Thomas Geoffrey BOWLER MD CB CBE (1895 - 1974) Air Vice Marshal (known as Geoffrey)
Geoffrey had served throughout WWI with the Dorset Regiment. At war end he found, like many others, that employment prospects were poor so he joined the recently formed Royal Flying Corps in which his younger brother Frank was already serving and then followed a full RAF career through to the end of WWII. His final appointment in 1944 was as Deputy Commander of Maintenance Command. His eldest brother Frank had been decorated twice in WWI and was Platoon Commander in the Deddington Home Guard during WWII. The story of all three Bowler brothers can be read in Personal Stories
Ronald (Ron) CANNING (1924-2006) Leading Aircraftman
In 1942 he obtained release from his reserved occupation of farming to enlist as a Wireless Operator. He served in the UK until end of the war in Europe when he was sent out to the Far East. When the atom bombs were dropped on Japan his troopship was diverted to India where he served for the rest of the war. More about Ron and his wife Daphne, who he met when she was a WAAF (see below) during the war can be found HERE.
Walter CAPORN (b1922) Sergeant
Qualified as an engine fitter at Halton in 1939; served in India and Burma 1941 until war end. Post war spent time on various air stations including in Iraq. Left the service in 1954.
Brian COSGROVE MBE (1926 -2010) Sergeant (war service) Lieutenant (post war).
Brian had a craving to fly from an early age. His first flight was aged 8 in a Dragon at an Alan Cobham Circus. In late 1943 he enlisted but there were no vacancies for pilots so he became a Meteorological Air Observer. After a spell in Yorkshire he transferred to the Far East where he got a lot of air time in Dakotas and was taught (unofficially) to fly. He was demobbed in 1947 and went to work for Spillers. He re-joined the RAF in the Volunteer Training Branch in 1948....continued in the section 'Post 1945'.
Harold (Harry) DAVIS* (D)
Fred DAVIS* (D)
Ewart DAVIS* (D)
William (Bill) Maurice DRAKE (b 1925) Squadron Leader
Joined 1944. Trained as a Navigator.Flew in Mosquito's in India and Burma preparing for relief of Singapore. Post war saw service in Malaya and the Suez campaign.In the Cold war he flew in nuclear bomb capable Canberra's.Following several years in Intelligence at MOD left the service in 1977. As soon as he left the service he joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and marched with them.
Frank Leslie DRINKWATER
Joined 1942. Trained as a wireless operator and air gunner. Served in India flying Liberators over Burma. De-mobbed in '45 but rejoined in '47 flying in Lincoln bombers. Joined Coastal Command in '51 flying in Lancasters, Shackletons and Neptunes on Cold War tracking operations against Russian Submarines. After a time in Transport Command (Beverleys) left the service in '65 and became the well known landlord of the Unicorn Inn on the Market Square until '87.
Kenneth (Ken) GARRETT* (1924-1991) Corporal
Served in the RAFVR from 1942 -1946. Brother to Tom (see above), Francis who was killed on a raid on Peenemunde and Mary who was in the WAAF (below)). A fourth brother, John (1923-1973), was not allowed to join up because he was in the reserved occupation of farming. To read more about Ken and the Garrett family click HERE
Walter G HAYWARD (D) Aircraftman
Denys Guy Lempriere HEYWOOD (b 1926) Group Captain
During his time in the service (1944 - 1970) Denys flew 44 different aircraft; as this included several variants of the same aircraft his log book records that he actually flew some 69 different 'types' of aircraft. His account of a career that included 2 aircraft crashes in the early years in the Middle East and flying the nuclear deterrent in Vulcan Bombers towards the end - together with several interesting photographs - can be read HERE.
Leonard (Len) Charles PLUMBE (b1921) Leading Aircraftman, flight mechanic
A highly skilled engine fitter specialising in Bristol 14 cylinder radial sleeve valve engines. Joined in 1940 and subsequently served on numerous Bomber Command air staions before going overseas in 1944 to India, Burma, Malaya and Singapore. More about his reminiscences can be found HERE.
Harold Henry PRATT* (b1922) Leading Aircraftman
Joined July 1942 as a Ground Gunner. Served abroad with 11 Squadron of the RAF Regiment which was responsible for airfield defence. Served in Burma, India, Singapore and Japan. Demobbed in 1946.
Tom SMITH
joined the RAF when he was 18. He was a Driver. He was part of the force that landed at Arromanche on D Day.
Warrant Officer George SPENCELEY (b1921)
Joined in September 1939. Gained his 'wings' and flew 20 sorties over Germany then transferred to the Middle East for 20 more sorties. Returned to the UK; following a 1000 aircraft raid on Essen, was the sole survivor after being shot down. He was a POW for 3 years. In a forced march away from the camp at war end 50 of his column were killed by mistake by friendly aircraft. George's story can be read in full HERE.
Robert (Bob) STEVENS (1921-2004) Leading Aircraftman.
Bob was callled up at the start of the war. He wanted to join the Navy but found to his suprise that he was colour blind. This also meant that he could not serve as aircrew. He therefore trained to be a Radio Mechanic in ground support in which capacity he eventually was based in Belgium following the invasion of Europe.
Bernard SYKES (1921-1992) Sergeant.
WOMENS AUXILIARY AIR FORCE (WAAF)
Daphne Maud CANNING known as Daphne, née Tucker (b 1925) Aircraftswoman 1st ClassServed from 1942 - 1946. Met her future husband Ron Canning (see above) during the war while both were working as radio operators at RAF Chicksands Priory, an outstation of Bletchley Park. More about Ron and Daphne's wartime service can be found HERE.
Pamela (Pam) DANCE (b1924) née Lewis. Leading Aircraftswoman
Sister of Sergeant Arthur Lewis. Pam was a professional cook by training and was employed as such from when she joined up in October 1942 as a better alternative to working in an ammunition factory or in the Land Army. She served in Bomber Command throughhout her time where the main task was to prepare the pre and post flight meals. Part of her service time was spent at RAF Edgehill. She was demobbed in 1945 after what she looks back on as 'three good years'. In 1945 she married a naval man man from Kent, Victor Jones, who was in the Fleet Air Arm and had survived the sinking of HMS ARK ROYAL.
Edith Elsie GARRETT known as Edith, née Minty (b1925) Leading Aircraftswoman (LACW)
Served 1942 - 1946. Trained as a driver at Morecombe where she met her future (1947) husband Ken (see above). Edith then deployed to a Beaufighter airfield in Lincolnshire as an ambulance driver. She has very clear memories of the sky being packed full of aircraft for the 1000 aircraft bombing raids. She also recalls seeing a Beaufighter burst a tyre on take off and cartwheel exploding into a hangar. Despite the inevitable sadness of death and injury ever present,she nonetheless remembers her time in the service as being exciting and great fun; youth had the ability to rise above the terrible circumstances that surrounded air and ground crew equally. After a couple of years she moved to York to Bomber HQ driving staff cars. To read about Edith and the Garrett family click HERE
Margaret (Margery) HAWES née Faber (b1922) Sergeant
Margery's own account " I joined the WAAF in January 1941 and, after a week or so of training and marching round the mirrored ball room of The Grand Hotel in Harrogate, was posted to Corsham (Wilts) to work as a plotter in one of the underground Filter rooms of Fighter Command. After a couple of years there I was sent to Inverness. This was an excellent posting as we had our bicycles and would explore the countryside, sometimes taking them on the train to the west coast and cycling back along Loch Ness. We sent our families eggs by train and they arrived intact. These were more welcome to my widowed mother than the large boxes of kippers sent by my generous brother. In 1944 I volunteered to go to Belgium and was sent to Malines near Brussels. We tracked the V2 rockets fired from Peenemunde. We saw one nasty incident when two women were chased by a crowd who shaved their heads. They had been friendly with german soldiers. On VE Day we danced in the streets with the crowds, everyone so happy and smiling. I was demobbed in 1946."
Peggy PACEY (b 1918) Section Officer (Ed's note; this is the WAAF equivalent to the men's rank of Flying Officer which is one rank above Pilot Officer)
Peggy joined the Territorial Reserves in 1938 and transferred to the regular RAF in 1939 until war end. Her account of her time together with photographs can be found HERE.
Emily Mary WEBB known as Mary, née Garrett*.(1918 -1992) Corporal
Sister to Francis (killed in the war), Tom (above), John (farmer) and Ken (above) Joined the RAF in 1942 and trained and worked as a telephonist at RAF Honiley, Wroxhall in Warwickshire. To read more about Mary and the Garrett family click HERE
