Admin – Page 3 – They Were There – Blood, Toil, Tears & Sweat

4 October 2020

PANTER, Frank H T (#216)

Lieutenant Frank H T PANTER DSC RN joined 22 Aug 1921 on cruisers & AIRCRAFT CARRIER FURIOUS pre-war & ILLUSTRIOUS 4 VICTORIOUS post-war, retiring 5 Apr 1956; for all ROYAL NAVY SHIPWRIGHTS and SUCCESS of AJAX in the BATTLE of the RIVER PLATE on 13 Dec 1939

4 October 2020

PALLOT, Peter (#304)

Lt Peter PALLOT RNVR, a talented artist represents the necessary expansion of Royal Naval MINESWEEPING Operations, which were so important not just during the war but well beyond into ‘peacetime’ dangerous operations to safeguard shipping in national and international waters. About one in five minesweepers were lost and Peter served on 11 of them, witnessing at close hand mine explosions.

4 October 2020

PAGE, Sidney E (#37)

Named after two uncles killed in the same week in WWI: for Duplex Drive TANKS on D-DAY, for CHURCHILLS & ARMOURED vehicles into Europe from D-DAY onwards.

2 October 2020

OKOLOW-ZUBKOWSKI, Konstanty (#178)

Captain (earlier Lt Cdr) Konstantyn ZUBKOWSKI POLISH NAVY: for POLAND's gallant fighting servicemen and their 37 MAJOR POLISH NAVY WARSHIPS and 10 Motor Torpedo & Gun Boats at SEA, as in the AIR & on LAND, also recalling POLISH service men and women in all three of their fighting services.

2 October 2020

ZURAKOWSKI, Stanislaw (#169)

Stanislaw ZURAKOWSKI KW (Krzyz Walecznych the Polish Military Cross) signs not only for the POLISH ARMY'S fighting prowess at the Battle of CASSINO and in so many other theatres of war but for his father, Stanislaw Ludwik ZURAKOWSKI, Mayor of OSTROG in 1938, and all those 4,000 POLISH military officers and leaders executed in the KATYN MASSACRE (identified and revealed only on13Apr43 by German forces) near Smolensk by Stalin’s Soviet forces in the Spring of 1940, after 15,000 were taken prisoner or deported.

2 October 2020

NOTHSTEIN, EW (#12)

392nd BOMB GROUP. Crewed with 125 and 127, formed and worked up in USA & flew from EAST ANGLIA bases. All returned for VE-Day 50th Anniversary Celebrations Representing USAAF LIBERATOR AIR GUNNERS

2 October 2020

NICOLSON, Muriel (#1)

WAR WIDOW of Wing Commander James NICOLSON VC DFC (the only RAF Fighter VC: 72 & 249 Squadrons, TURBINLITE, OC 27 Squadron BEAUFIGHTER operations over BURMA, (killed 2May45) ditched 355 Sqn Liberator. Representing War Widows campaign leader Mrs Iris STRANGE++ & all WAR WIDOWS

2 October 2020

NEWENS, Charles H (#143)

Thames waterman, boat-builder, sculls (60yrs Henley Regatta official). OPERATION DYNAMO: DUNKIRK LITTLE SHIPS (29 May-3 Jun 40, saved 224,717) RN COASTAL FORCES.

2 October 2020

MURRAY, Bridie (#10)

AIR MINISTRY & WAR WIDOW. In memory of her husband, MOSQUITO observer Flying Officer Fergus Murray DFC (23 & 464 Sqns) & her brother, RAAF pilot Flying Officer Ronald G DAWSON [KIA 21Mar45] on COPENHAGEN GESTAPO HQ RAID.

2 October 2020

MUNRO, John (#201)

Chief Petty Officer John "Jock" MUNRO, one wartime TELEGRAPHIST AIR GUNNER of 816 & 845 SQNs to represent all the RN “TAGs”, especially those flying in the primitive but remarkably effective Swordfish “Stringbags"

2 October 2020

MORLEY, Sam (#278)

Leading TORPEDO OPERATOR in DESTROYERS was originally working for the Stepney Electricity Board when called up, already married, in May, 1940. He trained at HMS Raleigh at Torpoint in Cornwall and was assigned to HMS Pembroke at Chatham then as a seaman-torpedoman at HMS Actaeon and HMS St Vincent at Gosport for electrical courses.

2 October 2020

MOLINARI, Mario (#217)

PARTISAN Lieutenant Mario MOLINARI, earlier in the ITALIAN ARMY, here as one of the first 4 more effective units, for the largely FORGOTTEN 200.000 enrolled, PARTISAN ITALIANS, who fought on the ALLIED SIDE

2 October 2020

MOHR, Stan (#127)

466th BOMB GROUP crew gunner for 30 daylight mission tours over Occupied Europe; USAAF day & RAF night strategic bombing (which diverted thousands of 88mm guns to the defence of Germany, and an element thought to have saved many hundreds of thousands of lives).

2 October 2020

MIXON, Charles H (#78)

In memory of his crews, and representing ALL CREWS, of the ‘MIGHTY EIGHTH’ US 8th ARMY AIR FORCE – especially his B-17 FLYING FORTRESSES & their high combat LOSSES.

2 October 2020

MITCHELL, Thomas (#172)

Lt Colonel Thomas MITCHELL MBE BSc FRIBA MInstStE RE for the ROYAL ENGINEERS contribution to the air war worldwide and the key importance in WW2 building of the rapid provision of forward airstrips in NORMANDY and elsewhere for the universal requirement of air power.

2 October 2020

MELLERSH, Francis RL (#51)

(by BEAUFIGHTERS & by MOSQUITO), son of Air Vice Marshal Sir Francis Mellersh, RFC Sopwith Camel pilot (5 e/a) against ‘Red Baron’ Manfred von Richthofen

2 October 2020

MEEKUMS, April (#68)

In memory of her brother, one of 168 CIVILIANS killed (& 121 seriously injured) in the worst V-2 attack of WW2, on 25NOV44 on Woolworths store, New Cross, Deptford (see also: ANTWERP’s V-2 BOMBING), one of the many millions of WAR CIVILIANS killed.

2 October 2020

MEADE, Patrick J (#104)

Representing UK’s vital METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE (1935-73) and its wide, everyday service and application, in peace or war in many theatres, for both RAF and CIVIL AVIATION

2 October 2020

McDOWELL, L Patricia T (#167)

As a young nurse in the Canadian Army, she cared for the most severely wounded and dying soldiers who were evacuated from the invading beaches of Normandy to England in the summer of 1944.

2 October 2020

McDOWELL, James (#259)

James McDowell commemorates the war operations of the BORDER REGIMENT, in particular to the defence of UK in SE England at "Hellfire Corner", then fighting in SICILY and as part of the 1st LANDING BRIGADE at the Battle of ARNHEM, where Jim was one of the three Border men near Hartenstein, with their mortar virtually vertical and in frequent use, in one of the war's most famous photographs; his mortar pit is preserved to this day, as also his great praise to the spirit and gallant help of the local Dutch citizens of all ages.

2 October 2020

MAYBANK, John W (#242)

Lieutenant John W MAYBANK RNZNVR: for the NEW ZEALAND and COMMONWEALTH contribution to the ROYAL NAVY, here a "Hostilities Only" pilot on CORSAIRS, who joined the BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET after converting on to CORSAIRS in CEYLON, firstly in 1830 SOUADRON

2 October 2020

MANTLE, W Eric (#189)

Reverend Gp Capt W Eric MANTLE MA represents all CHAPLAINS of each service, with a fair number of mainly ARMY ones decorated for gallantry under fire.

2 October 2020

MANSER, Frank Stanley (#181)

Company Sergeant Major Frank "Panzer" MANSER MM had wide active service beyond the DUKE of CORNWALL’s LIGHT INFANTRY & the WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT, then a “green lanyard” early PARA volunteer through No.2 COMMANDO, 11th SAS Bn, especially with H and S Troops in lst Bn PARACHUTE BRIGADE

2 October 2020

MAHADDIE, TG (#92)

British NCO served as pilot with 77 Sqdn, No 4 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1939-6/1940; officer served with 7 Sqdn, Pathfinder Force, RAF in GB, 8/1942-2/1943; staff officer served with Headquarters, No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 3/1943-7/1944; served as commanding officer of RAF Warboys in GB, 7/1944-5/1945