4 October 2020
Doctor Stanley Septimus PAVILLARD MBE MC was originally brought up in Las Palmas and in Singapore was Medical Officer to the “Vultures”, the STRAITS SETTLEMENTS VOLUNT£ER FORCE.
4 October 2020
Corporal George PARKINSON from Merseyside for the fighting service of the ROYAL IRISH INNISKILLINGS, he was with the 6th, which saw their first Bn attack at TWO TREE HILL in TUNISIA 13 Jan 1943, within the IRISH BDE, BOU ARADA and then the INVASION of SICILY, here especially for his unit's part in the BATTLE to take the prominent position CENTURIPE ("Cherry Ripe").
4 October 2020
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
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.
2 October 2020
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Mr Roddie MacLENNAN MERCHANT NAVY has the specially placed signature ‘for CONVOY HX84' to symbolise the daily, non stop, 24 hour endurance & sacrifice of the MERCHANT MARINE and the CONVOY SYSTEM, in the ATLANTIC OCEAN, literally Britain’s LIFELINE.
2 October 2020
Sergeant Robert MACKINTOSH 5th Bn T.A. THE QUEEN'S OWN CAMERON HIGHLANDERS: wife Margaret, née CHISHOLM was WAAF dressmaker in RAF EQUIPMENT for UNIFORMS &.brother JOHN was in the HIGHLAND DIV's RECONNAISSANCE CORPS, also in DESERT, after NORMANDY up into REICHSWALD.
2 October 2020
Sqn Ldr Robin LANGDON-DAVIES DFC of 89 Sqn Beaufighters but predominantly for 94 Sqn, 123 Sqn and then 6 Squadron Hurricanes from Tobruk on into TUNISIA and the early development of the 3" ROCKET PROJECTILES
2 October 2020
Flying Officer Geoffrey LOCKWOOD for all the ROYAL AIR FORCE’s MARINE CRAFT and AIR SEA RESCUE SERVICE which saved many Allied lives during its wartime service including D-Day, the morale effect of SAVING DITCHED AIRCREW returning from raids was considerable; to quote two of Geoffrey's many sea rescues:- he saved Co-Pilot, 2nd Lt T H DAVIS & eight crew from FLYING FORTRESS 004 of 8AF 305 Group's 364 SQN, CHELVESTON on 6Sep43; on D-DAY, he had already saved one downed airman before dawn and an hour before tasked to be on station.
2 October 2020
Lt Colonel "Peter" Piao-Chang LIANG, born in Oct17, went to NANKING Central Military ACADEMY at 18 for 3 years, later specialising in AIR SIGNALS & INT STAFF after 14 SQN 1939 CHENGTU + RUSSIANS 2 yrs & 3 SQN KUNMING: signs IN CHINESE for vital but underrated contribution of the IMPERIAL CHINESE ARMY and AIR FORCE, and RESISTANCE of CHINA itself. China never went Vichy so the Japanese became inextricably involved, tying down massive forces on Chinese mainland to allow AMERICAN island hopping STRATEGY; a Chinese book states 1.3M ARMY dead, 4,321 AIR FORCE & that no NAVY statistics are held.
1 October 2020
Vassili KUBAREV for the SOVIET AIR FORCE and as a pilot for the critical ground support of Soviet troops and their Yak & llyushin fighter bombing on the wide and important Eastern Fronts.
1 October 2020
Lt Cdr Paul B KINCADE USN: his elder brother, RAY, was a US NAVY enlisted PILOT, test flying TRANSPORTS (mainly S-2 Fs) after repair or rebuilds & delivering personnel & VIPs to AUSTRALIA & across the PACIFIC; Paul joined the day after Pearl Harbor (7Dec41) & completed his SAN DIEGO training 2Feb42, aged 17yrs, and was to stay in the US NAVY for 27 years, having three WW2 Campaign Battle Stars for the AMERICAN Theatre of War, EUROPE & AFRICA and the PACIFIC; in SIGNALS & also as GUNNER's MATE.
1 October 2020
Sergeant E J "Manolis" Joannou KANAKAKIS BEM later RASC & Roval SUSSEX, for GREECE & its loyal FIGHTING SPIRIT and STEADFAST ENDURANCE in OCCUPIED CRETE & its ISLANDS, especially with the terrible reprisals; here also for the SPECIAL BOAT SERVICE OPERATIONS in the AEGEAN
1 October 2020
Warrant Officer Pilot Don JONES covers the development and use on No.6 Squadron of the Mk IV HURRICANES, the "tin openers" which gave the Sqn a new nickname - they tried to fire straight and level or in a slight dive with difficulty getting up to the recommended 240 mph.