The Old Pangbournian Record Volume 2 Casualties in War 1917-2020 Collected and written by Robin Knight (56-61) The Old Pangbournian Society The Old angbournianP Record Volume 2 Casualties in War 1917-2020 Collected and written by Robin Knight (56-61) The Old Pangbournian Society First published in the UK 2020 The Old Pangbournian Society Copyright © 2020 The moral right of the Old Pangbournian Society to be identified as the compiler of this work is asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, “Beloved by many. stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any Death hides but it does not divide.” * means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior consent of the Old Pangbournian Society in writing. All photographs are from personal collections or publicly-available free sources. Back Cover: © Julie Halford – Keeper of Roll of Honour Fleet Air Arm, RNAS Yeovilton ISBN 978-095-6877-031 Papers used in this book are natural, renewable and recyclable products sourced from well-managed forests. Typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro, designed and produced *from a headstone dedication to R.E.F. Howard (30-33) by NP Design & Print Ltd, Wallingford, U.K. Foreword In a global and total war such as 1939-45, one in Both were extremely impressive leaders, soldiers which our national survival was at stake, sacrifice and human beings. became commonplace, almost routine. Today, notwithstanding Covid-19, the scale of losses For anyone associated with Pangbourne, this endured in the World Wars of the 20th century is continued appetite and affinity for service is no almost incomprehensible. A sobering example is surprise. The College’s combination of leadership captured in the picture included in this Foreword development, self-discipline, care for others, – that of the 1st XV of 1932 – of whom one third resilience and an enduring ‘can-do’ spirit finds a were to lose their lives in WWII. One of those five natural home in the Armed Forces. Much of the dead was my uncle and namesake, Tom Symes. school’s tradition and character has its roots in the generation of OPs who were at the Nautical Statistics, while conjuring a ‘quantitative’ sense College in the 1920s and 1930s and went on to of loss, can also obscure the ‘qualitative’ human fight in the 1939-45 war. tragedy. Those of us who have lost brothers and sisters-in-arms know that each number is also a This volume records, as far can be ascertained 80 name; a set of memories; a collection of never-to- years after the events, the details of the 178 OPs be-realised aspirations. Our brains struggle with who lost their lives from 1939-45, as well as two the statistics, but it is our hearts that bear the loss. who died before and after that war. It is a modest attempt to preserve these individual stories, before In its sacrifice during WW11, Pangbourne claims they are lost to the mists of time and the vagaries of no unique records. But for a small and relatively human memory. The various exploits and deaths young school, the impact of the war was deep and described took place around the world, in every lasting. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of those theatre of war. Among the dead are three who died who had been at the Nautical College since the as prisoners-of-war, eleven teenagers and three sets 1932 1st XV. TG Symes back row extreme right school’s foundation in 1917 served in one of the of brothers. four branches of the Services – the Merchant Navy, the Royal Navy (including the Royal Marines), the For decades after World War 2, the only memorial British Army and the Royal Air Force. to these OPs was the evocative window (and the plaque beneath it), depicting the figure of a risen Since 1945, this record of selfless commitment has Christ with four uniformed figures gazing inwards been sustained, with OPs serving with distinction – an Army Commando and a Merchant Navy in Korea, Malaya, Cyprus, Aden, Northern officer on the left; a Royal Navy officer and an RAF Ireland, the Falkland Islands, the Balkans, Iraq, pilot on the right. This account, painstakingly Afghanistan and numerous other conflicts. Today, compiled by Robin Knight, offers an equally new generations of OPs maintain this tradition. enduring tribute. It is an essential record and a When handing over command of a battlegroup worthy memorial. By remembering them, we in Central Helmand in Afghanistan 2012 I was honour them. delighted to discover that the incoming Adjutant Major General Tom Copinger-Symes CBE and Operations Officer were Pangbournians. (Hesperus 82-87) Old Pangbourian Casualties in War 1917-2020 Old Pangbourian Casualties in War 1917-2020 A the Mediterranean by the German submarine Baring, David Stuart (36-40) Sub Lt RN, killed had taken off from RAF Portreath, Cornwall U-331 with the loss of two-thirds of its crew. in action June 15, 1944 aged 21. Baring was at 1025 hours to patrol over the Atlantic on The ship capsized in four minutes after three of serving in the frigate HMS Mourne and taking anti-shipping duties ordered earlier in 1941 by the four torpedoes, fired at it from close range, part in Operation Neptune, the assault phase Winston Churchill despite the unsuitability of hit amidships followed by a massive explosion. of the invasion of France, when the ship was the Blenheim for such a role. He was shot down Only 450 men out of a complement of 1,312 sunk by a homing torpedo from the submarine at 1116 hours while attacking an enemy convoy survived. The news was censored for many U-76. Of the 130 men on board Mourne, 110 at sea level. He is commemorated at the CWGC weeks. perished. U-76 was sunk three days later. Runnymede Memorial to airmen and women. Adams, Nigel Ansell, Ralph Basham (24-26) Merchant Barker, Robert Bramston (31-35) Sqn Ldr RAF, Barr, Derek Singleton (31-33) Norrington (36-40) Navy, killed June 6, 1941 aged 31. Ansell came died May 7, 1941 aged 23. ‘Binks’ Barker was FO RAFVR, killed in action March 21, 1945 Midshipman RN, from Northern Ireland and was sailing in the flying a Blenheim 1V aircraft with the marking aged 29. Barr was a member of 75 Squadron, a killed in action May 24, 1941 aged 18. A Ulster Steamship Company’s cargo steamer ss R3741 and was a member of 18 Squadron. He largely New Zealand unit and a key component former Chief of the College, Adams was Glen Head in convoy OG63 from Liverpool of RAF Bomber Command. The squadron flew commissioned into the Royal Navy in July to Gibraltar. A day short of Gibraltar and Lancaster aircraft. It had the second highest 1940 and had served in HMS Birmingham and southwest of Cape Vincent, the 35-ship convoy casualty rate and the fourth highest number of HMS Vanoc before joining the battle cruiser was bombed, sinking the Glen Head. raids to its credit of any RAF squadron. It also HMS Hood. “His great interests were the Navy dropped the third highest tonnage of bombs and ships, plus shooting” according to the (21,600 tons) over enemy territory and flew Hood memorial site. He was one of three young the most sorties (8,017) in Bomber Command. OPs to die in Hood during its epic and fatal In total, it lost 139 aircraft during the war and encounter with the German battleship Bismarck suffered 1,139 casualties. Barr is commemorated in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. at the Runnymede Memorial to airmen and Barker, RB (31-35) 1st X1 1935. women. Ansell, RB (24-26) - Hartcup & Rodgers also died Addenbrooke, Derek (25-29) Wing Cdr MN memorial Tower Hill RAF, killed in action April 4, 1941 aged 29. Addenbrooke led 101 Squadron Bomber Command, based at RAF West Raynham in the B 1940-41 period, during which year Blenheims from the squadron flew more than 600 sorties Baker, John Cecil (27-28) Lt RN, killed in over France and Germany, attacking the action January 7, 1940 aged 28. Baker was German invasion fleet gathering in Channel serving in the submarine HMS Seahorse in the ports and harbours, and losing 15 aircraft. Heligoland Bight and was probably killed as a He was “Lost without Trace” flying Blenheim result of action by the German 1st Minesweeper N3552 near Brest. Flotilla. Seahorse had sailed from Rosyth on December 26 on a patrol. It had failed to return Andrews, Gyles Anthony (24-26) Lt. Cdr (E) by January 9 and was assumed at the time to RN, killed in action November 25, 1941 aged have been mined but now is believed to have 32. Andrews was serving in the battleship HMS been sunk by a depth charge attack. All 39 Barham, searching for Axis military convoys on crew were lost. Baker is commemorated at the passage to Benghazi, when it was torpedoed in Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Bar, DS (31-33) with his Lancaster crew 8 9 Old Pangbourian Casualties in War 1917-2020 Old Pangbourian Casualties in War 1917-2020 Barr, the pilot, and all eight of his Lancaster Battersby, John Christopher (39-42) LAC was flying in Wellington T2465 when it was and administrative point of view. In addition crew, was killed in 75 Squadron’s final raid of RN FAA, died December 12, 1944 aged 19. shot down in a raid on Hamm and crashed at to the administrative work, his flying hours the war in what seems to have been a “friendly Undergoing FAA operational training at RNAS Bachum-Landgendneer, Germany.