OC War Grave Visits
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them
For the past few years there have been annual commemorative pilgrimages to the War Graves of Old Carthusians who perished during both the First and Second World Wars. The visits have been made by Michael Bates (Deputy Bursar 00-06), Simon Fielder (BH), Dom Saunders (D 92), Nick Townsend (L 93) and Chris Wheeler (H 67 and BH 72-06) and their accounts make for some interesting and moving reading, see below:
Operation HUSKY, the Sicily campaign of 1943 – revisited July 2009
There are seven Carthusian casualties buried in Sicily, five victims of the summer campaign and two airmen lost in the preceding months. Our trip to visit their graves began on 9th July – by pure coincidence, the date the invasion of 1943 was launched. Participants were Michael Bates (Deputy Bursar 2000-06), Simon Fielder (Brooke Hall), Dom Saunders (D 1992), Nick Townsend (L 1993) and Chris Wheeler (H 1967 and BH 1972-2006).
Upon arrival in Sicily we made our way to Syracuse War cemetery which we found to be beautifully tended and despite the baking sun, lush and green. Among the thousand-plus graves, we found those of four Carthusians, two of them killed sixty-six years ago to the day.
Lieutenant C.J.AUSTIN, 2nd (Airborne) Bn, South Staffordshire Regiment (H 1933), had worked in Lloyd’s after Charterhouse. Aged 28 and serving as second in command of his company, part of the 1st Airlanding Brigade, he is recorded as having been killed on 9th July off Sicily, presumably in one of the many gliders lost at sea. He is also commemorated on war memorials in West Byfleet and Pyrford, Surrey.
In the same Brigade was Captain J.N.C.DENHOLM (L 1932), 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), who joined the Army in 1937. From the Cameronians he was seconded to train with the Glider Pilot Regiment. He was killed on 10th July, aged 28, when his glider crash-landed very close to its target, the Ponte Grande. Nearly all his passengers were also killed.
Another Cameronian regular was Major G.R.S.DROUGHT (S 1926) of the 2nd Battalion, which was part of 13th Infantry Brigade, 5th Division, XIII Corps. Having served in the Army since 1929, he too was killed in action on the day of the landings, aged 32.
Also in 5th Division but in 15th Infantry Brigade, Captain B.N.B.ELLWOOD (H 1932), 1st Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, was killed two days later. After Charterhouse he had served for three years in the Metropolitan Police (CID), and had joined the Army in October 1939. He was 28.
Following Eighth Army’s route northwards, back towards Catania, we made our way to the cemetery to find two egrets sitting on the wall and lizards scampering around. Once again it is beautifully kept and lavishly watered and somehow even its position almost under the flightpath for Catania airport does not disturb the sense of peace – or the sense of timelessness engendered by distant views of Mount Etna.
Reid BRUCE JONES (H 1930) was born in Larbert, Stirlingshire. In peacetime he was a chartered accountant and a director of the family timber business, and joined the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders as a Territorial. Serving as a Captain in the 7th Battalion (part of 154 Brigade, 51st (Highland) Division, XXX Corps), he was killed in action on 21st July, aged 30, probably in the brigade attack on Gerbini airfield, in which his battalion lost 18 officers and 160 men. His elder brother James had been killed in May 1943 in Tunisia.
Buried alongside his navigator W/O F.Westcott, Flying Officer E.H.CAVE-BROWNE (g 1940) had left school soon after turning seventeen and joined the RAFVR almost immediately. Flying Mosquito NFII DD792 of 23 Squadron on patrol from Malta to Trapani, he was killed near Porto Palo on 16th February 1943, three weeks short of his twentieth birthday.
Flying Officer M.TUCKWELL, RAFVR (S 1939), was a member of a distinguished Carthusian family – his eldest brother (S 1929) became Chairman of the Governing Body in 1973, and numerous other family members were Carthusians. Piloting a Wellington VIII of 458 (RAAF) Squadron on anti-shipping operations from Malta, he was posted missing on 27th April, aged 21. His father (S 1899) died aged 61 just over a month later.
C K Wheeler
Annual Visit to Rauville La Place, Normandy
The annual visit to Rauville la Place in Normandy was undertaken in 2009 to maintain our memorial to Lieutenant (A) A.H.Beane, RNVR (S 36).
The memorial was also visited in June 2009, when Julian Slade (B 88) and his girlfriend Kat took Motor Club’s Bedford MW truck to France for the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. They met one or two veterans en route, and also revisited nearly all the graves of the OCs killed in the Normandy campaign, which we had visited on our commemorative trip in July 2004.
Individual Visits
There have also been individual visits to commemorate the following Old Carthusians:
Flight Lieutenant J.C.GARNETT, RAFVR (P 40) – a pilot of 644 Squadron, he was killed on 14th September 1945, aged 23, when Halifax PN305 crashed at Bolventor, Cornwall, en route to the Azores. He is buried in St Cuthbert’s churchyard, Over Kellet, Lancs - grave 136.
Major T.H.GREENALL, South Lancashire Regiment (H 20) died on active service on 12th February 1942, aged 39, at Ryhope, Sunderland. He is buried in St Wilfrid’s churchyard, Grappenhall, Cheshire – north-east part, grave N.1.
Captain G.D.KEMP-WELCH, Grenadier Guards (H 25) - a son-in-law of the Rt Hon Stanley Baldwin, MP, he was killed on 18th June 1944, aged 36, when the Guards Chapel in London was hit by a flying bomb. He is buried in St Peter’s churchyard, Astley, Worcs - second extension, south-east corner.
Pilot Officer B.J.LEADER, RAFVR (G 32) joined up in 1941 and trained as a pilot. He was killed on 4.8.42, aged 28, in the crash of a Turbinlite Havoc south of RAF Tangmere, Sussex. He is buried in St Michael’s churchyard, Bude Haven, Cornwall, south-west of the church.
Leading Aircraftman A.S.LOVETT, RAFVR (R 42) was killed in an aircraft accident at Roosevelt Lake on 17th December 1943, aged 19, while training at Falcon Field, Arizona. He is buried in Mesa City Cemetery, Arizona – lot 3, block 528, grave 8.
Sergeant Pilot J.A.E.SHARP, RAF (G 38), was killed aged 22 on 28th March 1942 in an accident in a Master aircraft at Acklington, Northumberland. He is buried in St Margaret’s Church cemetery, Burnham Norton, Norfolk. Also commemorated on his headstone is his brother, Navigating Officer J.P.L.SHARP, DFC (G 1941) of the Lancashire Aircraft Corporation, killed aged 26 on 21st March 1949 when Halifax C-8 G-AJZZ crashed near RAF Schleswigland, Germany, during the Berlin Airlift.
Pilot Officer T.N.SMYTH, RAF (W 38) – a pilot of 26 Squadron, he died on 27th August 1940, aged 19, of injuries sustained in the crash of Lysander N1267 at Nettlestead. He is buried in St Benedict’s churchyard, Wombourne, Staffs – north-east corner, grave 2032.
There have also been attempts, so far unsuccessful, to trace the graves of the following Old Carthusians:
Lieutenant B.S.PHIPPS (R,L 40), 2nd Bn Fife & Forfar Yeomanry, Royal Armoured Corps. Having served in Europe since D-Day, he was killed on 27th July 1945, aged 21, in a road accident while returning from manoeuvres in Suffolk. He is recorded as buried in the south-east corner of St George’s churchyard, Kidderminster, where his parents’ grave is also located.
Lieutenant J.A.ROBERTSON, Royal Observer Corps (R 21), killed at Lowestoft by enemy action on 13th January 1942, aged 39.
C K Wheeler