Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 153

W ORLD W AR II

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

Name WILLIAM PETER CROSSE (Flight Officer)

Lef SES 1934

Roll Number 2475 Died 12:03:1941

Set / House C

Arrive SES 1929

Where GOUWE SLOOT, HOLLAND Serving with 218 SQN, BOMBER CMD, R.A.F.

Age 26

Buried Bergen General Cemetery, North Holland Remembered The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1915, the youngest of three SES brothers, sons of an Oxfordshire Archdeacon. A member of the 2nd Rugby Football XV, Choir, School Play, Lance Corporal OTC and in the ‘Special’ Form. ‘He is remembered with gratitude by the boys of his time and for his unaffected good humour, which he showed both in Rag Revues and in his private life. He gave a great deal of pleasure and laughter just when it was needed most at School, and his many friends will feel deep sorrow for his parents at their loss’ (Chronicle). Little is known of what he did between leaving St. Edward’s and the outbreak of war but in 1941 he was already a qualified Flight Officer with 218 Squadron, Bomber Command, RAF flying Wellington Bombers. His war sadly did not last long as he was killed in action following a raid on the Focke-Wolf Works at Bremen, when he was shot down by Feldwebel Hans Rasper over Gouwe Sloot, Holland, crashing into a river at Gouwe Sloot near Opperdoes.. His body was not recovered until 1962 when the Dutch Air Force evacuated the site and his remains were originally interred in the New General Cemetery, Opperdoes, Holland and then later at the Bergen General Cemetery in North Holland by the Dutch Air Force in 1972. ‘The world is hungry for laughter and he gave it, and by his death he showed good fun and complete sacrifice go well together’ (Chronicle).