St Edward's, 150 Years

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 6 / St Edward’s and the Wars

WING COMMANDER GUY GIBSON

WORLD WAR II The Warden during this terrible world war, which of course affected civilians as well as those in the Forces, was the Revd Henry Ewing Kendall, who arrived in the Summer Term of 1925 and became the longest-serving Warden in the School’s history by staying in post until 1954. During the war the Officers’ Training Corps (from 1939 the Junior Training Corps) obviously became more prominent. A group within it became the ‘Air Training Corps’ and the Chronicle of March 1944 mentions the new ‘Naval Section’, with 16 ‘very keen’ members. By the Autumn Term 1939 each House had its own shelter, trenches had been cut in the playing fields and all the windows had been ‘blacked out’. The older boys paraded with the OTC three times a week and the emphasis on Corps activities was more intense. By the end of the term there had been two fatalities among the 600 OSE already in uniform. Throughout the war, Warden Kendall read out the list of losses Right: Pupils digging air-raid shelters in the Quad, 1940. Warden Kendall had to contend with the dreadful losses of OSE during the SecondWorldWar, as well as having to manage such everyday matters as blackouts and shelters. Theodor Abrahamsen, one of the oldest surviving OSE, is the figure on the far right. Below right: Paul Cooke (G, 1929–34). Below left:Plaques intheChapelcommemoratingthosewhofell intheGreatWar.

‘There it was, beyond the gap, in the distance lay the calm and silvery sea, and freedom. It looked beautiful to us then – perhaps the most wonderful thing in the world.’ –WingCommander GuyGibson, 17May 1943, returning fromthe Dambusters Raid. Gibsonwas decorated at BuckinghamPalace by the Queen acting as deputy for the King. As stated in the Chronicle : ‘Throughout his operational career, prolongedexceptionally at his own request, he hasshownleadership,determinationandvalourofthehighestorder.’ On his death, in September 1944, Churchill told his widow that ‘We have lost in this officer one of the most splendid of all our fightingmen. His namewill not be forgotten; it will forever be enshrined in the most wonderful records of our country.’Warden Kendall added, in the Chronicle , that ‘He shared to the full all the strength and the virility andmodesty of English boys of all ranks, withtheiramazinggoodhumourintryingconditions;hewouldnot have wanted to claim more than this.’

to the congregation in Chapel, with a personal recollection of each OSE lost. Obviously these losses affected everyone in the School community hugely. The retreat to Dunkirk brought the news of the death of Paul Cooke (G, 1929–34), whom Hill refers to as ‘athlete extraordinary, and leader of men’. He had indeed been a great athlete at School and went on to play rugby for Oxford University and Richmond RFC, as well as playing twice for England in 1939. He was shot while observing and directing the fire of a Bren gun section in Belgium serving with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. After Dunkirk a large camp of tents appeared overnight on Port Meadow, not far from the School, the arrival of

Top right: A scarf in the Archive manufactured by Jacquard after the Dambusters Raid and presented to Guy Gibson. Above: Guy Gibson’s medals. Right: Drawing of Guy Gibson by Michael Rothenstein currently hanging in the Warden’s House.

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