I know Annie has an interest in the RACD, but I happened to be browsing the CWGC when I thought I do a search for casualties. I hadn't realised so many had lost their lives: 001 BAILEY, TW 161017 28/03/1944 002 BALAAM, CG 238530 04/01/1944 003 BANTING, GB 159706 10/10/1944 004 BARCLAY, T 127097 21/06/1940 005 BARRATT, HN 87272 04/02/1943 006 BARRY, G 244139 14/09/1944 007 BARTLEET, JC 101735 17/07/1942 008 BARTON, JG 144935 25/09/1944 009 BATEMAN, GH - 25/04/1942 010 BATTYE, H 131300 20/07/1945 011 BENSON, BJ 205968 27/09/1944 012 BERNARD, G 248379 11/10/1944 013 BERRY, WHA 291270 27/07/1944 014 BINGHAM, CH 241309 31/08/1944 015 BOND, G 95796 21/03/1941 016 BORNSTEIN, H 202626 28/11/1943 017 BOUTWOOD, FS 135547 10/07/1941 018 BOYLE, A 108069 28/11/1940 019 BROWN, H 43595 07/11/1943 020 BUSH, WG 90410 19/06/1941 021 CAPE, RE 260316 25/06/1944 022 CARNEGIE, CD 301343 16/07/1944 023 CHALK, RC 139815 21/03/1942 024 CHAMBERS, GJM 171381 13/07/1945 025 CLARKE, VC 125659 22/09/1942 026 CLARKE, CG 313431 08/06/1946 027 COPLAND, WR 94093 16/09/1942 028 COSTELLO, B 254173 05/04/1946 029 CURRAN, JG 211517 04/05/1944 030 DALGLEISH, JD 69274 18/09/1943 031 DAVIES, JT 270524 11/08/1944 032 DAVIES, RV 306291 19/11/1947 033 DEAN, JO 52744 16/04/1942 034 DODGE, EJ 56922 23/06/1941 035 DOUGLAS, J 244123 05/08/1944 036 ELLIOTT, DB 76530 01/02/1943 037 ELLIS, CRW 144121 05/01/1944 038 EMSLIE, D 111056 12/06/1940 039 FARRUGIA BUGEJA, AE 195079 13/05/1941 040 FERGUSON, OK 100139 02/02/1944 041 FIRTH, PF 257744 07/06/1944 042 FUNNELL, EW 91362 30/03/1942 043 GEORGE, ET 178165 21/06/1941 - 22/06/1941 044 GILGUNN, WG 216113 11/12/1942 045 GLENNIE, JD 34719 30/09/1940 046 GORDON, AC 91866 08/06/1940 047 HAIGH, JF 133404 23/09/1943 048 HALL, JFS 43114 06/09/1941 049 HAWKSWORTH, CJ 90874 07/07/1944 050 HAYES, J 199879 21/01/1945 051 HIRST, J 263524 18/02/1946 052 HOBLING, JC 95885 18/12/1944 053 HOBSON MATTHEWS, GG 96035 31/05/1940 054 HOOKER, S 231878 12/02/1946 055 HORDERN, PS 77494 30/11/1942 056 HOURIGAN, DF 102157 10/07/1943 057 IRWIN, HJ 270523 20/09/1944 - 25/09/1944 058 JONES, HS 104052 24/04/1941 059 KAY, GA 150817 07/06/1944 060 KENNY, JW 287957 24/03/1945 061 KIDMAN, H 42624 07/07/1940 062 KIRK, WD 309209 26/07/1946 063 KNOWLES, JM 95803 01/06/1940 064 LEVIS, GA 101011 04/12/1943 065 MACAULAY, I 121108 26/10/1944 066 MACDOUGALL, J 279927 10/08/1944 067 MACPHERSON, R 102573 16/09/1944 068 MARCHANT, WG 322808 28/04/1945 069 MARTIN, F 154990 27/05/1944 070 MCLEMAN, A 91868 02/06/1940 071 MCMAHON, PJ 218709 14/08/1944 072 MILLS, WG 123999 01/04/1943 073 MINTON-SENHOUSE, C 133104 30/06/1944 074 MOREIN, W 188503 18/09/1941 075 MORRIS, IJ 157811 26/10/1942 076 MORT, R 101843 11/06/1942 077 MURRAY, DW - 06/07/1944 078 MUSGRAVE, FW 147348 02/08/1944 079 NESBITT, G 163330 05/07/1944 080 NEWSON, JA 191487 20/07/1944 081 O'CALLAGHAN, J 88257 11/04/1944 082 OGILVY, WT 118329 25/03/1945 083 PARKES, RCI 322805 16/04/1945 084 PARRY, GEM 173033 06/06/1944 085 PODMORE, RT 111748 21/05/1940 - 23/05/1940 086 PRICE, JH 125463 19/12/1941 087 PRYOR, AS 26457 03/08/1944 088 QUINN, JEG 91404 23/09/1943 089 RAWSTHORNE, P 99438 14/12/1941 090 RICHARDSON, ER 133105 19/04/1945 091 RICHES, LP 101549 01/06/1940 092 RICKARD, CB 125312 05/09/1944 093 SHORT, JH 139505 25/10/1943 094 SINTON, TCJ 91501 23/10/1943 095 SMITH, H 135499 15/02/1942 096 SMITH, H 95864 15/08/1944 097 TAYLOR, HJL 188501 23/09/1944 098 TAYLOR, JS 95734 30/06/1944 099 THOMAS, DD 305657 11/07/1944 100 WAGG, HT 294758 19/07/1944 101 WALLACE, CC 127276 27/07/1943 102 WATSON, H 38843 12/11/1941 103 WHITROW, RH 40452 18/06/1944 104 WILLIAMS, AWP 216105 16/12/1943 105 WILLIAMS, DL 297476 05/06/1944
Quite a few in WW1 also ( though I haven't made a list !! ) ....... mine all came home ... which was a miracle in itself .... considering what they all went through !! :clapping: Annie
I came across this ..... WW1 and C of E ... but very poignant I thought ! YouTube - Canterbury Tales: Ian Hislop's History of the Church of England 6
And as they talked about him ....... Here is a WW1 veteran talking about how he met Woodbine: A man I recall with great affection was Woodbine Willie. His proper name was Reverend Studdert Kennedy, an army chaplin he was and he'd come down into the trenches and say prayers with the men, have a cuppa out of a dirty tin mug and tell a joke as good as any of us. He was a chain smoker and always carried a packet of Woodbine cigarettes that he would give out in handfuls to us lads. That's how he got his nickname. At Mesines Ridge he ran out into no man's land under murderous machine-gun fire to tend the wounded and dying. Every man was carrying a gun except him. He carried a wooden cross. He gave comfort to dying Germans as well. He was awarded the Military Cross and he deserved it. He came down the trench one day to cheer us up. Had his Bible with him as usual. Well, I'd been there for weeks, unable to write home, of course, we were going over the top later that day. I asked him if he would write to my sweetheart at home, tell her I was still alive and, so far, in one piece. He said he would, so I gave him the address. Well, years later, after the war, she showed me the letter he'd sent, very nice it was. A lovely letter. My wife kept it until she died. He worked in the slums of London after the war among the homeless and the unemployed. The name Woodbine Willie was known to everyone in the land in those days. Died very young, he did, and at his funeral people placed packets of Woodbine cigarettes on his coffin and his grave as a mark of respect and love.
[WOODBINE WILLIE THEY gave me this name like their nature, Compacted of laughter and tears, A sweet that was born of the bitter, A joke that was torn from the years. Of their travail and torture, Christ's fools, Atoning my sins with their blood, Who grinned in their agony sharing The glorious madness of God. Their name! Let me hear it--the symbol Of unpaid--unpayable debt, For the men to whom I owed God's Peace, I put off with a cigarette. G. A. Studdert Kennedy's The Unutterable Beauty.
So many stories about these special men ...... when you think about all they did and went through .... unarmed !! The Reverend Selwyn Thorne (Father Columba) last surviving chaplain from Arnhem The quite remarkable story of the last surviving Army Chaplain from the Battle of Arnhem has only recently come to light. The Revd Selwyn Thorne joined the Army in January 1944 as an Anglican Chaplain and was dropped into the Dutch border town of Arnhem the following September, with a Light Gun Regiment. There he witnessed the fierce battle which was supposed to win the war by Christmas. He went without sleep for six days, and ministered in a Field Hospital which came under direct attack by the Germans. He was wounded himself as he struggled to care for the wounded, dead and dying. During the battle he went to the deathbed of a Father Bernard Benson, a Catholic Army Chaplain from the Diocese of Leeds, and prayed with him. After Father Benson’s death, the medical officer gave Padre Thorne the dead priest’s crucifix. The crucifix has been in his possession for nearly 60 years until he donated it recently to the Museum of Army Chaplaincy at Amport House, in Hampshire. Having been taken prisoner by the Germans, Padre Thorne was placed in a POW Camp in Fallingbostel where he came under the influence of a French Chaplain. In 1945 Padre Thorne converted to Catholicism and trained for the priesthood at St Edmund’s College, Ware and was Ordained Priest in 1951 for the Archdiocese of Westminster. After a curacy at Holy Trinity, Brook Green in Hammersmith he joined Downside Abbey and took the name Father Columba.
The crucifix is invested with real significance: it belonged to a Roman Catholic army chaplain who was dying from a wound when he gave it to Dom Columba, who was then an Anglican chaplain. The crucifix was received by Monsignor Phelim Rowland VG, Father Andrew Lloyd CF and the Venerable John Blackburn CB, QHC, all of whom are serving army chaplains.
He was at Arnhem - Chaplain, 1st Airlanding Light Regiment RA Arnhem [POW at Stalag XIB, Fallingbostel, till 04.1945] 1st British Airborne Division officers -- T
And here's a list of the Chaplains in the Airbourne: Affilated Groups - Royal Army Chaplains Department
Not Army Chaplains but RAF:- Son of Harry Walter and Jean Pugh; husband of Amy Lilian Pugh, of Bridgnorth, Shropshire. M.A. (Oxon.). The London Gazette of 1st April, 1947, gives the following particulars: The Revd. H. C. Pugh was on board H. M. T. Anslem, bound for West Africa, when the ship was torpedoed in the Atlantic in the early hours of 5th July, 1941. Coming up on deck he seemed to be everywhere at once, doing his best to comfort the injured, helping with the boats, rafts, and visiting different lower sections where men were quartered, When he learned that a number of injured airmen were trapped in the hold which had been damaged by the torpedo, which distroyed the normal means of escape, he insisted on being lowered in by a rope. Everyone demurred, as the hold was below the water-line, the decks were already awash, and to go down was to go to certain death. He simply explained that he must be where his men were. The hold now was so full of water that when he knelt to pray, the water reached his shoulders. Within a few minutes the ship plunged and sank and Mr. Pugh was never seen again. He had every opportunity of saving his own life but, without regard for his own safety and in the best tradition of the Service and of a Christian minister, he gave up his life for others. Awarded GC Posthumously
A brave man indeed ! More than one or two seemed to do that Jerome .... some of the stories make you weep ! Thanks for that one Annie
Reverend Just returned from Holland and found this Reverend whilst looking for Camerons in Mierlo cemetery, Had a quick search to see what he did re saving Dutch children without much success.
You could download the recommendation for his MC to see whether that has any more info: The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details
In Memory of Chaplain 4th Class The Rev. HENRY JEFFERYS LEIGH TAYLOR M C 188501, Royal Army Chaplains' Department attd. 29th Armd. Bde., 11th Armd. Div. who died age 31 on 23 September 1944 Son of Russell Leigh Taylor and May Taylor, of Clifton-on-Teme, Worcestershire. B.A. (Oxon): University College. Remembered with honour MIERLO WAR CEMETERY
Weep indeed Annie! I've not read a lot about chaplains before (is that a generic term which applies to all of the services?), especially given that they were unarmed is there a higher ratio of bravery awards than to other servicemen?
The Revd Selwyn Thorne is a very special person to us as he came to stay for about 2 weeks each year for over 40 years and my late father was such a close friend of his. I saw him last week. He is now 96 and in the Nursing home just over the road from his Abbey. He does speak a little of Arnhem now. He left the training Battalion of the Guards at Windsor when asked to join the Airborne. He landed at Arnhem in a glider full of artillery. He has never mentioned being wounded. He was tending to the wounded in the house of the Angel of Arnhem, Kate ter Horst, and felt that she did not approve of him for some reason, especially when she found him cleaning the toilets - obviously not a suitable job for a Padre! Later he heard that she did approve after all. He has also recounted how a tank shell passed right through the house. And having to cope with severed limbs and matching them up with fatalities for burial - making a joke of it in order to cope with the gore and horror. Padres had the rank of Captain and as such he was the equal-highest rank in the POW camp and found himself taking parades - not something that comes naturally to such a modest man-of-the-cloth. I think he said that the POW camp was within sight of Belsen, but they were unaware of the horrors there.
Furthur news of Fr Thorne. Yesterday was his 100th birthday!! They made them to last in those days. Everard 02/03/2014
