1 Deganwy's Roll of Honour

Deganwy’s Roll of Honour

In April 1955, a special service was held at Deganwy’s All Saint’s church, and a plaque unveiled, to commemorate the lives of the 23 men from the village who died during the Second World War. The memorial tablet was paid for by public subscription and unveiled by Lord Mostyn with the dedication made by the Archdeacon of St Asaph, R H Roberts. Later, in 1959, the name of John, was added after Arthur Heppel Williams’ name at the request of the then vicar, Lewis Edwards. One can only assume that John was the brother of Arthur Williams, but so far, we have drawn a blank as to when and how he died.

This paper gives a brief biography of each of the Deganwy men listed on the memorial plaque. There is still much to discover about these extraordinary young men who gave their lives in the Second World War and any information would be gratefully received. I can be contacted at [email protected] Adrian Hughes

Richard Charlwood Barker

Name Richard Charlwood Barker Rank Sergeant 1006907 Regiment Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve – 75 Squadron Died 15/10/1941 aged 20 Next of Kin George and Annie Barker, Thornville, St George’s Drive, Deganwy Memorial Reichswald Forest War Cemetery Richard was born in 1921 and educated at Cheltenham College. He enlisted into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1940 and after training was attached to bomber command. On the 15th October 1941, Sergeant Barker was the pilot of a Wellington bomber that took off for a bombing raid over Cologne, Germany. With a payload of high explosive and incendiary bombs, the plane was shot down north of Dusseldorf and although initially posted as “missing in action” it was later confirmed that Barker was “missing, believed killed in action”. Two of the crew did survive and were taken as Prisoners of War but the Deganwy lad and three of his crew were killed.

Richard Stephen Brown

Name Richard Stephen Brown Rank Sub-Lieutenant Regiment Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve – HMS Wivern Died 14/05/1940 aged 21 Next of kin Harold Sutton and Margaret Brown, The Chase, Gannock Park, Deganwy Memorial Buried at sea and commemorated on Portsmouth Naval Memorial Known as Dick, he was educated at Sandringham School, Southport before his parents moved to Deganwy and he then attended Rydal between 1933 and 1937 –here he was in the swimming and shooting teams and in the cricket 2nd XI. Like his father, who was Commodore of Conway Yacht Club, Dick was a keen sailor and won numerous prizes with “Acushla” the Conwy One Design dinghy that he had built by Riley’s at Deganwy Dock in 1936. After initially taking up insurance with the same Birkenhead company that his father was chairman of, Dick joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve a month after the outbreak of war. He trained at Hove, Weymouth and Plymouth and then was appointed to destroyer, HMS Wivern, on April 11th 1940. He was killed just 5 weeks later. In May ‘40, HMS Wivern was on convoy and patrol duty in the North Sea when the German’s invaded the Low Countries. She was ordered to assist in the evacuation of British and Dutch troops from the Hook of Holland but while doing so came under attack from German bombers and a 500lb bomb hit the destroyer killing Sub Lt Brown and 28 of his fellow sailors.

Peter Buckley Holmes

Name Peter Buckley Holmes Rank Flying Officer (Navigator) 90038 Regiment Royal Air Force (Auxiliary Air Force) Died 23/01/1941 aged 32 Next of kin Only son of Buckley and Ethel Holmes, Gannock Park; husband of Dorothy Holmes (nee Newman) of Belfast. Memorial Buried Drumbeg (St Patrick) Church of Ireland Churchyard Born in Deganwy in 1909 Peter was educated at Malvern College and Queen’s College, Oxford graduating with a first-class honours degree in law. He rowed in the college boat. His main recreation, however, was woodwork, and this became an absorbing hobby with which he took infinite pains, producing useful as well as ornamental work. On leaving Oxford he entered the Northern Ireland civil service and was Secretary to W B Spender, the Ulster Minister of Finance. In 1935 he joined the Auxiliary Air Force and was commissioned in 502 Ulster Squadron. He was called up in August 1939 and became a Flying Officer in the R.A.F. His Squadron was equipped with Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers for long- range convoy escort work and was attached to Coastal Command. Their main role was to provide escort cover for Atlantic convoys. On 23rd January 1941, Holmes and his crew took off from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to provide cover for convoy HG50 which was en-route from Gibraltar to Liverpool. After escorting the convoy without incident for three hours, they became lost in bad weather and flew too far east resulting in the aircraft crashing into high ground above Balmavicar on the Mull of Kintyre. All 5 crewmen on board were killed. In a 1942 copy of the North Wales Weekly News I found this article about his Will. “Flying Officer, A P Buckley-Holmes, only son of Mr and Mrs Buckley Holmes, Bron Llan, Gannock Park, who was killed in an air crash last year, left £200 and other property to his wife, and the residue of his £5,465 estate upon trust for her during widowhood, “provided that if, during that time, that standard price of a quarter loaf in London shall exceed 2/6, his trustees shall pay the entire estate for her own use.” It then went on to mention that the price of a quarter loaf in 1942 was 8 pence, which had remained unchanged since September 1939.”

Hugh Caradoc Davies

Name Hugh Cardaoc Davies Rank Fusilier 14731130 Regiment Royal Welch Fusiliers – 4th battalion Died 25/04/1945 aged 30 Next of kin Son of Hugh and Ellen Davies of Deganwy; husband of Vera Davies of Dolgarrog Memorial Becklinghen War Cemetery

Edwin Davies

Name Edwin Davies Rank Driver T/168429 Regiment 12/09/1944 aged 27 Died Royal Army Service Corps Next of kin Son of John and Mary Davies Memorial Brookwood

Edward Willoughby Gardner

Name Edward William Willoughby Gardner Rank Captain 35506 Regiment King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (Formerly Royal Signals) Died 18/10/1945 aged 37 Next of kin Only son of Dr Willoughby and Florence Gardner; husband of Nancy Gardner of The Dene, Caterham Memorial Rangoon Memorial Like his father, Edward attended Rugby School and then Hertford College, Oxford. He read the Classics and graduated in 1931. He took up teaching and for many years was classical master at Dulwich College Preparatory School. In 1931, Edward married Nancy Barton of Llys Iolyn, Gannock Park at a ceremony at All Saints Church. They had one son, John. At the outbreak of the war, Edward enlisted in the Royal Signals but with his aptitude for languages was commissioned as an officer and transferred to the 9th Jat Regiment in the British Indian Army and appointed teacher of Urdu in the Officer Training School. Edward was never happier than when in his native Welsh countryside and returned when he could to walk the mountains and fish the streams. Ironically it was his love of fishing that ultimately cost him his life as he is believed to have drowned in the Narbada River near Mhow in Central India while fishing.

Elias Gwynedd Hughes

Name Elias Gwynedd Hughes Rank Fusilier 4209236 Regiment Royal Welch Fusiliers Died 10/11/1944 Next of kin Son of Evan and Ellen Hughes of 7 Park Terrace Deganwy; husband of Joyce Marion Hughes of Shirley, Birmingham. Memorial Buried Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery

Harold Frederick Hughes

Name Harold Frederick Hughes Rank Leading Aircraftman 1107672 Regiment Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Died 07/09/1943 aged 21 Next of kin Son of Hugh and Fannie Hughes of 1, Park Terrace, Deganwy Memorial Buried Catania War Cemetery As a boy, Harold attended Deganwy National School and on Sundays attended Sunday School at Peniel Chapel. A talented singer and entertainer, Harold regularly performed at Eisteddfodau and concerts held at the old church house. After finishing school, he became an apprentice at Hutchinson and Wilde, the Austin Garage in Craig y Don. In 1940, aged just 18, Harold volunteered for the RAF and after a period of basic training joined 654 Squadron. On the 20th February 1943, Harold boarded the Dutch troop carrier the “New Holland” at Gourock in Scotland and set sailed to Algiers. At the docks, there were dozens of children selling oranges, tangerines and lemons. It was from one of these fruit sellers that Harold bought a lemon and sent it home to his mother in Deganwy. This was later auctioned and raised 6 guineas for the ‘Wings for Victory’ national savings campaign. Harold and 654 Squadron fought their way across North Africa seeing most action at Enfidaville in Tunisia. Here they were supporting a battalion of Maori infantry serving within the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. After the Allies victory in North Africa, Harold was immediately sent to Sicily in July 1943. The Sicilian campaign was fast moving and Harold spent most of the battle servicing planes in a vineyard in the central mountains. As the campaign ended Harold headed east, helping to sort out a landing strip on the side of Mount Etna. The capture of Sicily was seen by Churchill as the prelude to an assault on the Italian mainland and this was launched on September 3rd 1943. Just four days later, Leading Aircraftman Harold Hughes and four of his fellow airmen were killed when a German torpedo struck the landing craft on which they were travelling, as part of the flotilla heading to mainland Italy. In a letter to Harold’s parents, his Commanding Officer wrote “As his section commander I got to know him very well indeed, and a better man, and a better friend you could not have. He was always so willing and cheerful, and he fitted in perfectly into the section. In his work, he was intensely keen, and knew his job thoroughly, besides being very keen to pick up new things. His loss to us is irreplaceable. In the flight, he was everybody’s friend. My section and I offer you our very deepest sympathy. He died for his country, and that cause for which we are all fighting.”

Hugh Joseph Hughes

Name Hugh Joseph Hughes Rank Able Seaman D/JX 150645 Regiment Royal Navy - HMS Scout Died 09/03/1942 aged 21 Next of kin Son of John and Hannah Hughes, Bryn Maelgwyn Cottage, Llanrhos Memorial Plymouth Naval Memorial Joe attended Central School in Llandudno and joined the Royal Navy as a boy cadet in 1936 aged 15. He served aboard the destroyer, HMS Scout. In February 1942, he was taken ill while aboard HMS Scout and sent to a naval hospital in Hong Kong for treatment. Feeling better he was discharged from hospital and sent to Java to re-join his ship. However, HMS Scout had set sail the day before he arrived and so he was put on a Chinese merchant ship heading for Australia, as that was Scout’s next port of call. He never made it, for the Chinese vessel was torpedoed by a Japanese destroyer on March 9th.

Thomas Hughes

Unfortunately, no details have been found about Thomas Hughes

Edward Jones

Name Edward Jones Rank Corporal D/26032 Regiment Royal Welsh Fusiliers - 6th Battalion Died 19/03/1947 aged 52 Next of kin Son of John Thomas Jones and Susannah Jones; husband of Ellen Jones of Conwy Memorial Buried in St Agnes Churchyard, Conwy Ted served with the 6th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during the First World War, being awarded the Military Medal during the Dardanelles campaign. He also served with the Royal Welch during the Second World War and so in all he had 32 years’ association with the RWF. A member of the Conway Town Band and later the Penmaenmawr Silver Band he was an excellent soprano cornet player and his services as trumpeter at Eisteddfodau were much in demand. He played football for several North Wales clubs, including Conway, Penmaenmawr and Llandudno Junction and had assisted at Manchester United.

H. Emrys Jones

Name H. Emrys Jones Rank Fusilier 14764842 Regiment Royal Welch Fusiliers and No. 3 Commando Died 29/01/1945 Next of kin Son of Hugh David and Ellen Jane Jones of Llandudno Junction Memorial Buried at Mook War Cemetery, The Netherlands

Robert Henry Jones

Name Robert Henry Jones Rank Gunner 897965 Regiment Royal Artillery 69th (The Denbighshire Yeomanry) Medium Regiment Died 08/09/1940 aged 25 Next of kin Only son of Robert and Sarah Jones of 3 Glan-y-Mor Terrace Memorial Buried Llanrhos (SS. Eleri And Mary) Churchyard Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Robert worked as a postman while also serving with the local battery of the Territorial Army. His regiment arrived in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in May 1940 but were only on the ground for three weeks when they were forced to retreat to Dunkirk. Robert died in a road accident later that year while the regiment were based in southern England on anti- aircraft duties.

Richard Victor Jones

Name Richard Victor Jones Rank Ordinary Seaman C/JX212916 Regiment Royal Navy – HMS Illustrious Died 14/01/1941 aged 21 Next of kin Son of William and Evelyn Jones, Dunroamin, Station Road, Deganwy Memorial Chatham Naval Memorial Richard Jones was a telegraph boy at Deganwy Post Office until 1939 when he left for Crewe to become a postal sorting clerk and telegraphist. On 10th January 1941 HMS Illustrious was attacked by German aircraft as she was on escort duties in the Mediterranean, and badly damaged. Dick was wounded in the attack and died of his wounds four days later.

Norman Douglas Lancaster

Name Norman Douglas Lancaster Rank Flight Lieutenant 40397 Regiment Royal Air Force Died 01/01/1942 aged 23 Next of kin Son of Norman and Emma Lancaster of Wigwam, Deganwy Road, Deganwy Memorial Singapore Memorial Born in Burnley in 1918, Lancaster attended Rydal School in Colwyn Bay between 1931 and ‘36 where he excelled at sports, especially rugby. He joined 62 Squadron Royal Air Force who at the outbreak of war were shipped out to Singapore and flew coastal patrols until Japan entered the war in December 1941. 62 Squadron then carried out attacks on Japanese shipping but lost most of its aircraft when Japanese bombers attacked their airfields. Norman Lancaster was Mentioned in Dispatches and is commemorated on Singapore Memorial.

David Clifford Lloyd

Name David Clifford Lloyd Rank Lieutenant Regiment Royal Marines Died 10/09/1943 aged 21 Next of kin Son of Captain Henry Clifford Lloyd and Millicent Lloyd of Medmenham, Buckinghamshire Memorial Buried Salerno War Cemetery David Lloyd was the son of Captain Henry Lloyd, one time headmaster of the Woodlands Preparatory School. Henry Lloyd took up his position at Woodlands in 1921 and David was born the following year in Deganwy. David enlisted in the elite Royal Marines and was leading a unit of men onto the beaches of Salerno during Operation Avalanche – the main Allied assault on Italy - when he was killed.

Frederick Brian Pollitt

Name Frederick Brian Pollitt Rank Pilot Officer – Pilot 87366 Regiment Royal Air Force - 607 Squadron Died 10/03/1941 aged 22 Next of kin Fred and Agnes Pollitt of Bryn Eithin, Gannock Park, Deganwy Memorial Buried Edinburgh (Corstorphine Hill) Cemetery Freddie Pollitt was born in 1918, in Worsley, Lancashire. His father is listed in the 1911 census as a dyer and finisher. Freddie was educated at Radley College, Abingdon, Oxfordshire and described in the school magazine as “Of a quiet and unassuming nature, he was one who easily made friends, and at the same time he showed early signs of that sense of duty which later led him to offer his services at once when war broke out.” After finishing school Freddie went into the cotton business with English Sewing Cottons, and on the outbreak of war immediately joined the ranks of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. By August 1940 he was training to be a pilot, attending RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, and on gaining his wings was posted to 607 Squadron. On 10th March 1941, he took from RAF MacMerry near Edinburgh on a routine patrol, in a Hawker Hurricane. Visibility was poor and without modern navigational aids he flew into a hill south of Harperrigg Loch in Midlothian. Freddie’s sister, Beryl, also served with the RAF during the Second World War as a Cyphers Officer. She was well known in Deganwy especially at Conway Yacht Club where she sailed the Conwy One Design ‘Kathleen’ built by Dickie’s of Bangor. She later married Northern Ireland racing driver, William McCrae.

William Cooper Shaw

Name William Cooper Shaw Rank Pilot Officer 40571 Regiment Royal Air Force - 36 Squadron Died 06/11/1939 aged 21 Next of kin Son of John and Gertrude Shaw of High Bank, Gannock Park Memorial Singapore Memorial William Shaw was the first Deganwy casualty of the Second World War although the Air Ministry stated the cause of accident as ‘obscure’. Shaw was educated at Knightsbridge Grammar School and when his parents moved to Deganwy attended John Bright’s in Llandudno. Initially joined the Merchant Navy and was at sea for some time on P&O federal cadet ship ‘Durham’. In 1937 he joined the RAF and was quickly promoted. His Squadron were posted to Singapore in April 1939.

William Shuck

Name William Shuck Rank Ordnance Artificer 5th Class P/MX 67960 Regiment Royal Navy – HMS Hood Died 24/05/1941 aged 20 Next of kin Bertram and Beatrice Shuck of Tyn-y-Coed Cottages, Tywyn Memorial Portsmouth Naval Memorial In May 1941, HMS Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were both heading to the Atlantic to attack Allied convoys. On the 24th, Hood was struck by several German shells, exploded and sank. The loss was the biggest in the history of the Royal Navy, both in terms of size of ship and number of men killed. Due to her perceived invincibility, the loss had a profound effect on the British people and the disaster prompted Churchill to issue his famous order: ‘Sink the Bismarck!’ Out of 1,418 crew aboard HMS Hood only three survived. Amongst the dead was William Bernard Shuck from Tyn-y-Coed Cottages on Tywyn Hill. Little is known about Ordnance Artificer Shuck except that he was born in West Bromwich in 1920 and the family moved to Deganwy in about 1925 where Bill’s father, Bertram, was employed as an engineer at the Tyn-y-Coed Convalescent Home for Men. Tyn-y-Coed was opened by the Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund at the turn of the 20th century and was for Birmingham factory workers in need of rest and recuperation.

Richard Donald Stevens

Name Richard Donald Stevens Rank Lieutenant 267581 Regiment Welsh Guards – 2nd Battalion Died 04/08/1944 aged 22 Next of kin Son of John Edward Pawson Stevens and Agnes Stevens of Marylands, Gannock Park, Deganwy. Memorial Buried St. Charles De Percy War Cemetery Richard was born in 1921, in Stockport, Cheshire and lived at Marylands in Gannock Park. He had been in the Army Cadets at school and joined the Welsh Guards at the outbreak of war aged 18. Richard, by now commissioned as an officer with the rank of Lieutenant, landed in Normandy in June 1944, a couple of weeks after D-Day and was soon heading to the Caen region which was supposed to have fallen to the British on D-Day, but was still a German stronghold. Caen was a key objective in the liberation of France; capturing Caen would be the key to capturing Paris. The Guards took Caen on 19 July 1944 but not without huge loss of life and 60 of their tanks were destroyed. After taking Caen, the Guards reorganized and prepared for Operation Bluecoat. Operation Bluecoat was intended to take advantage of the advance of the Americans to the west during the first week of August 1944. British and Canadian units would then draw German infantry and panzer units away from the American breakout. However, the Welsh Guards faced two German infantry divisions as well as two Panzer divisions armed with the much superior Tiger tanks compared to the British Cromwells. On the 4th August, three days after the start of Operation Bluecoat, the Gannock Park man was killed near Le Beny-Bocage when the tank he was commanding took a direct hit from a German shell.

Arthur James Heppel Williams

Name Arthur James Heppel Williams Rank Sergeant 1112414 Regiment Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Died 15/03/1943 aged 28 Next of kin Son of the late Reverend Arthur Anderson Williams and Mrs Williams of Bodelwyddan, Albert Drive, Deganwy Memorial Buried Conwy (St Agnes) Churchyard Born in Osmotherly, Yorkshire where his father was rector for many years. He was educated at St Peter’s, York and Leatherhead. While an assistant master at Swindon he did good work with the Scout movement. He later held teaching appointments at Holt, Norfolk and Yeovil. He joined the RAF in 1941.

Mervyn Gladstone Williams

Name Mervyn Gladstone Williams Rank Private 14410620 Regiment The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Died 18/03/1944 aged 19 Next of kin Only son of Son of Percy and Nellie Williams, Ceris, Station Road, Deganwy Memorial Rangoon Memorial Mervyn Williams was a pupil of Deganwy Elementary School and then Central School in Llandudno before being employed as a joiner’s apprentice by Owen and Hughes builders in Deganwy. In 1942, aged 18, he went to Liverpool with the intention of joining the Royal Air Force but got talked into joining the army by a persuasive recruiting officer and instead ended up in The King’s Liverpool Regiment. In November 1943, the regiment were posted to the Indian sub- continent but their troopship was torpedoed by German aircraft in the Mediterranean, many men were killed but Williams survived. After a short time in North Africa the regiment finally made it to Burma where they were immediately in action against the Japanese. The King’s Liverpool were taking part in Operation Thursday – a large scale expedition alongside the famous special forces, the Chindits. On the 18th March 1944, Private Williams was posted as “missing in action” and while the family hoped he would be found in a Prisoner of War camp, sadly he was not.

William Ernest Williams

Name William Ernest Williams Rank Pilot Officer 144449 Regiment Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Died 20/03/1943 Next of kin Husband of Ruby Williams, Bron Vardre Avenue, Deganwy Memorial Buried Llandudno (Great Orme's Head) Cemetery Bill Williams was a native of Erdington, Birmingham and moved to Llandudno to take up an apprenticeship with Dicken and Son – the furnishers on Vaughan Street. Bill enlisted in the RAF in 1941 and after basic training near Warrington was sent to the United States for training and qualified as a navigator. After a great deal of operational flying with Coastal Command over the Bay of Biscay, France, Bill joined 101 Squadron of Bomber Command. On Valentine’s night 1943, Bill was the navigator of a Lancaster bomber that took off from RAF Holme-on-Spalding - their target was the Italian city of Milan. After successfully bombing the target they were attacked by an Italian fighter which ignited 4 bombs that were still in the bomb bay of the Lancaster and bullets also damaged the starboard engine and badly shot up the intercom and navigational aids. Sergeant Bill Williams managed to put out the fuselage fire, and as the pilot had blown out the engine fire, they decided to try and get the aircraft home rather than make an emergency landing. Navigator, Bill Williams did not receive any wireless aid until he reached the English Channel and so for a period of five hours he navigated solely by using the stars. So as not to violate Swiss territory, he deliberately navigated around the neutral country. For his incredible skill that night Bill Williams was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. Only 112 airmen were awarded this decoration in World War 2. After one weeks leave he was told to report back to his squadron. On the 20th March 1943, while on a test flight, his Lancaster clipped a concrete pill-box on top of the cliffs above Atwick beach, causing the plane to break up killing ten men including Bill Williams.