Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 147

W ORLD W AR II

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name GORDON SAMPSON CLEAR (Flight Officer)

Lef SES 1930

Roll Number 2225 Died 20:03:1943

Set / House G

Arrive SES 1926

Where FOXBURROW WOOD, SUFFOLK Serving with 139 SQD, BOMBER CMD, R.A.F.V.R.

Age 31

Buried Leverstock Green Holy Trinity, Herts Remembered Westminster Abbey Staff War Memorial and The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born in St. Albans 1916. A School Prefect, Prefect of the School Choir, Captain of Sports and Captain of the School Athletics Team 1930. On leaving St. Edward’s he worked for the Commercial Assurance Company from 1930 until the outbreak of war when he joined the RAFVR as a Leading Aircraftsman. Promoted to Sergeant in 1940 and Pilot Officer 1942. He was attached to 139 Squadron Bomber Command flying Mosquitos and awarded the DFC in 1943 in recognition for his part in the successful raid on the Molybdenum Plant at Knaben, Norway. ‘The task called for the highest degree of leadership and skill in a flight over mountainous terrain covered by snow which obscured all prominent features, and through deep ravines and the most treacherous air currents, although the target was hidden away in the mountains, it was successfully bombed’ (citation). In March 1943, while flying as an Observer and returning from a mission, his aircraft, having already been hit by enemy ground fire and losing one of its two engines, crashed in Foxburrow Wood, near Brightwell in Suffolk. He survived the impact but died of his injuries later in the East Suffolk Hospital. ‘He was one of those whose strength of character inspires confidence and respect and when in 1929 he became Head of House, he ruled it wisely and well’ (Chronicle).