Chronicle 687
30 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE
were killed in 1943, the former in a freak road accident in Tunisia and five months later his younger brother, leading a charge at Cassino. The Keith family lost five sons in all to the war, the others not being OSE. Paul Cooke (Segar’s, 1929-34), probably one of the best inter-war rugby footballers at the School, was killed early in the war in Belgium; he had won two Rugby Blues at Oxford and then later two international caps for England in 1939. Eric ‘Budge’ Dixon (Field House, 1929-34) winner of three Oxford Cricket Blues at Oxford and a County Cricketer with Northamptonshire was shot down over the Tripoli Coast in 1941, serving with the Fleet Air Arm. With Arthur ‘Mary’ Reid he had formed the most outstanding opening partnership ever seen at the School. Harald Holthe (Field House, 1928-29) the first Norwegian to ever attend the School, was lost in 1940 when his country was invaded, killed trying to help a wounded friend in no-man’s land at a critical bridgehead at Trondheim. He had hosted the first ever OSE dinner held in Oslo before the war. John Llewellyn-Davies (Apsley, 1931-36) and Peter Owen (Segar’s, 1936-40) both joined Major General Orde Wingate’s Chindits, fighting behind Japanese lines, and were lost in 1944 and 1943 respectively. Every individual loss was a personal one for the family involved and the School, but 1944 saw three very significant OSE deaths of now nationally-known figures. On 12th April Adrian ‘Warby’ Warburton (Sing’s, 1932-35) RAF, DSO and bar, DFC and two bars, DFC (US) was shot down over Bavaria. On 5th July Alec Cranswick (Segar’s, 1933-6), RAF Pathfinders, DSO and DFC was shot down over Villecresnes, France. Lastly on 19th September Guy Gibson (Cowell’s, 1932-36) RAF, VC, DSO and bar, DFC and bar, Legion of Merit (US), of ‘Dambusters’ fame, was lost over Steenbergen in Holland.
Basil Glasspool (Macnamara’s, 1929 31) was lost during the Wormhoudt Massacre
carried out by the Waffen SS Division in 1940. He was killed along with 80 other unarmed prisoners during the retreat to Dunkirk: their crime had been to put up a stiff rearguard resistance. Benjamin Bradford-Martin (Sing’s, 1929-35) was taken prisoner by Japanese forces in Burma in 1942, escaped but was recaptured and was last seen ‘fighting his captors with his fists’. Hugh Griffith (Sing’s, 1935-39) was taken prisoner in Singapore by the Japanese
The Keith family in Wimborne c .1927, the two OSE, the youngest brothers, are at the front
and shipped to Ballale Island in the Solomon Islands to build an airstrip; once completed all the POWs involved were executed. Charles Nevill Sharples (Set B, 1912-18) was also taken prisoner in Singapore in 1942, imprisoned in Changi Prison then finally released in 1945, a very damaged and emaciated man. He survived to witness the Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay by special invitation but died 13 days later. The oldest OSE lost in this war was 76-year-old Allen Bathurst (Unaffiliated, 1876-80), killed in central London in 1941 on the worst night of the Blitz. The youngest was Colin Murray (Cowell’s, 1935-39) Merchant Navy Apprentice, lost on board his ship, the RMS Domala, off the Isle of Wight in 1940, aged just 18. The School’s losses continued throughout the war with 21 in 1940, 36 in 1941, 27 in 1942, 26 in 1943, 31 in 1944 and 11 in 1945. Two members of the Keith family, David and Geoffrey (Sing’s, 1936-41 and 1937-42)
Most of the RAF OSE losses were in Bomber Command. Eleven pilots were lost in training before even going into action. Douglas Flatau (Segar’s, 1937-40) and his civilian instructor were killed in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1942; he was only 19 years old. Unlike in the Great War there were not many reports of ‘no known grave’, which had been so common on the Western Front. In this war those without a definite final resting place tended to be bomber crews who would leave on missions, after which all contact would be lost. A new grim statistic was the number of OSE lost while in enemy hands, the most notorious case being that of Arthur Banks (Apsley, 1937-42), a former Captain of Boats, who served with the RAF, was shot down over Northern Italy, then joined the local partisans. He was betrayed and horrifically treated before being executed in 1944. For his stoicism and outstanding bravery, he was awarded a posthumous George Cross, presented to his father by George VI after the war.
Adrian 'Warby' Warburton
Guy Gibson
Eric 'Budge' Dixon
Paul Cooke
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