St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 6 / St Edward’s and the Wars

Left: T.C. Hankey, c. 1937, the only member of the Common Room to die in WorldWar II. Below: US troops playing baseball on School Fields in 1944 prior to D-Day – in return for petrol for the School mowers!

LIEUTENANT CHARLES EDMUND HUGH JEFFERSON RNVR (A, 1935–40)

A story of WorldWar II new to the archives is that of Ted Jefferson. Material about him has been provided by his sister Hilde Browning via his niece, Julia. Charles Jeffersonwas born in Lincoln on 1October 1921, was a pupil at St Edward’s from 1935 to 1940 and joined the RNVR Fleet Air Arm directly after leaving School. As a Seafire pilot Lt Jefferson saw extensive action both in North Africa and in the Mediterranean, including action over the landings at Salerno. His final mission was in the South of France with combined American,BritishandFrenchforces:OperationDragoon,inAugust 1944. 809 Naval Air Squadron was in action up the Rhone valley and after ten days Ted’s Seafire was hit by anti-aircraft fire near Montelimar. He crashed just north of Saint-Rémy-de- Provence on 26 August 1944. He is buried in the municipal cemetery in Saint-Rémy-de- Provence, in the tomb of the Leger family, whose son also had been an aviator and crashed in 1925. Mme Leger decreed that the two young men should be laid side by side. Every year, at first on 11 November and more recently on 8 May (VE Day), the townspeoplehonourTedalongsidetheirownmenwhofellinbattle and in the Resistance. They process with flags, speeches, singing LaMarseillaise and our National Anthemto the Leger tomb.When possible someone from the family attends that ceremony. In 2010 a new road in the town was named Rue du Lieutenant Jefferson.

master, T.C. Hankey, had also been killed in action. Ninety- seven were known Prisoners of War and 13 were reported in the Chronicle of July 1945 as ‘Missing’, though one of these, Noel Bendor Robins (E, 1928–31), in fact survived the war. There were in excess of 40 OSE who had fought in both World Wars and one who had fought in the Boer War as well. The final tally of decorations and honours is more than impressive: one VC, nine DSOs, four Bars to DSOs, 20 DFCs, eights Bars to DFCs, 28 MCs, one Bar to MC, two MMs, eight OBEs, six MBEs, six DSCs, one Bar to DSC, one KLB, one KBE, one CGM, one GM, two BEMs, one American Legion of Honour, one Norwegian War Medal, one American AFC, one Croix de Guerre and 31 mentioned in despatches – these decorations were shared across all the main services. R.D. Hill, in his ‘Roll of Honour’, singles out five individuals among

Above:TedJefferson(second from left). Below: The sign for Rue du LieutenantJeffersoninSaint- Rémy-de-Provence, France. Bottom: Ted’s medals.

The School’s contribution to World War II numbered just under 1,550 in the Services, of whom 150 gave their lives. The eventual ‘Roll of Honour’ is 40 more than in the Great War. One

Above: Ted Jefferson’s aircraft carrier, HMS Stalker . Below: Ted’s coffin.

Left: The wing of Ted’s Seafire plane. Right: Saint- Rémy-de-Provence town medal.

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