Portsmouth War Dead project

James, Whereabouts is this new Pompey memorial going to go?
Do you have a link to the story?

~A

Its halfway down the page here:

Portsmouth WW2 memorial

Its next to the WW1 Cenotaph, aside the Guildhall.

 

I gather it is a case of waiting for when fundraising is completed. The way things are looking I gather it will be a case of public contributions, the Council contributed towards the memorial itself but it will cost in the region of £30 to have each name engraved.

I have contacted the Council team working on the memorial to inform them of what I am doing but no reply as yet... I'm also going to contact the chief fundraiser, shes a pretty redoutable lady who lost her father at Dunkirk, started the whole idea and campaigned for it from scratch. Maybe I could do a charity talk or two about some of the stories I've found?

 

The News has been covering the story fairly regularly. There has been a bit of an upsurge in interest in memorials and remembrance with recent anniversaries and the war in Afghanistan, but I guess the pressures of the credit crunch makes raising money more difficult at the moment.

 

Electrical Artificer 1st Class Arthur Ivor Bigglestone DSM and Bar
HM Submarine Triumph
Died 20 January 1942, Chatham Naval Memorial
Age 36

Petty Officer Frank Gerald Collison DSM and Bar
HM Submarine Triumph
Died 20 January, Portsmouth Naval Memorial
Age 29, from Cosham

Early in the war HMS Triumph completed the staggering feat of crossing the North Sea after having 18 foot of her bow blown off by a mine on Boxing Day 1939.

After being repaired she went on to give sterling service. Operating in the Mediterranean from early 1941, Triumph sank the Italian merchants Marzamemi, Colomba Lofaro, Ninfea, Monrosa, the Italian auxiliary patrol vessels V 136 / Tugnin F, Valoroso, V 190 / Frieda and V 137 / Trio Frassinetti, the Italian tugs Dante de Lutti and Hercules, the German merchant Luvsee, and the Greek sailing vessels Panagiotis and Aghia Paraskeva. She also damaged the Italian armed merchant cruiser Ramb III, the Italian tankers Ardor and Poseidone, the Italian merchant Sidamo and the German merchant Norburg.

In early 1941, she sank the Italian submarine Salpa off the port of Alexandria, Egypt. In August of that year, she torpedoed the Italian cruiser Bolzano, which suffered considerable damage but survived. Bolzano was later captured by the Germans after the surrender of Italy in 1943, while she was under repair from the damage she had received from Triumph. The cruiser was later sunk in 1944.

Triumph was also slated to play a part in Britain’s first ever airborne operation, Operation Colossus. She was due to evacuate the airborne men after they had attacked the Aqueduct at Tragino, but this had to be cancelled and they were captured and became Prisoners of War.

HMS Triumph left Alexandria on 26th December 1941 to land a party of commandos ashore and then patrol the Aegean. Four days later she signalled that the party had been successfully landed at Bireans. She was due to return to pick up the commandos on 9th January but failed to make the rendezvous. Nothing further was heard of the submarine. No axis power claimed her destruction and it is believed that she struck a mine.

Bigglestone and Collison were both awarded a DSM for their part in Triumph's succesful patrols in the Mediterranean, and both received a Posthumous Bar to their DSM after their deaths.

For courage, skill and resolution in successful submarine patrols.

LG 20.1.42 pp339/40

C/M. 53623 Electrical Artificer 1st Class Arthur Ivor Bigglestone DSM and Bar.

P/JX. 131634 Petty Officer Frank Gerald Collison DSM and Bar.

No mention of a bar though for either man and a total of 10 DSM's were awarded.

The Distinguished Service Medal 1939-1945 W H Fevyer.

 

Collison's bar to his DSM was Gazetted on 5 May 1942 for "daring, enterprise and devotion to duty in successful patrols in H.M. Submarines".

I havent managed to find Bigglestone's bar yet, but interesting it wasnt gazetted at the same time as Collison's. The LG on 16 Jan 1942 clearly states that Bigglestone's DSM was a first award, so he hadn't won one previous to that... interesting...

It would help if the DSM recommendations were available online

 

Sergeant (Air Gunner) Francis Cyril Compton DFM
35 Squadron, RAF (Halifaxes, Graveley)
Killed 29 June 1943
Buried Heverlee Cemetery, Belgium
Age 20, from Paulsgrove, Portsmouth

Not only does Compton’s story show just how young some of Bomber Command’s aircrew were, it also highlights just how many young men from Portsmouth were lost in the skies over Europe in the Second World War. Paulsgrove is the neighbourhood where I live, and until just after the way it comprised of literally a couple of roads and several farms.

His Halifax Bomber, serial number HR812, Squadron number TL-F, took off at 11.27pm from Graveley on a mission to attack Cologne in Germany. Part of 35 Squadron, RAF, their role was to act as pathfinders, identifying and illuminating the target for the main force who would follow on behind.

Compton, an Air Gunner, was onboard HR812 when she was shot down by a German night fighter, piloted by Lieutenant Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, at 01.55am. The Halifax crashed near Wandre, 8 kilometres North East of Liege in Belgium.

During the Battle of the Ruhr in May 1943, Sgt Compton (then serving with No.10 Sqdn), shot down one night-fighter, damaged a second and drove off at least two others. His immediate DFM was Gazetted on 4 June 1943.

 

Flying Officer Charles Goble
624 (Special Duties) Squadron RAF (Stirlings)
Killed 14 July 1944
Runnymede Memorial
Age 21, from Stamshaw, Portsmouth

624 Squadron’s role was to insert and supply special agents behind the lines of Nazi-occupied Europe. Where Goble was operating when his plane was shot down, we can only speculate. In July 1944 the battle of Normandy was raging, and the French Maquis further south were certainly active against the Germans. 624 Squadron are also known to have flown missions over Poland. Documented records of 624 Squadron are very limited due to the secrecy of the work involved, and the fact that he has no known grave.

 

Private Robert Johns
13th Battalion, Parachute Regiment
Killed 23 July 1944
Ranville War Cemetery, France
Age 16, from Stamshaw, Portsmouth

The first example I've found of an under-age Soldier from Portsmouth being killed in the First World War. His service number begins with 14..... (General Service Corps) so it looks like Johns joined the Army after late 1943. I'm not sure if you could be transferred straight into the Parachute Regiment at that stage, as far as I know you had to be a member of another Regiment first? Of course, Johns may even have joined up younger than 16, depending when his birthday was.

Am I right in thinking that under-age soldiers were rarer in 1939-45 than in 1914-18? My research seems to suggest so. Is this probably down to national registration and the difficulty of falsifying your age?

 

Would be interested if you turn up a photo of Pte Johns; his is a much visited grave at Ranville, especially by school groups.

You are right that under-age soldiers were rare because of conscription; the number of volunteers in WW2 were small.

A good friend of mine lied about his age and joined in 1943; he was in Italy by October 1943 and at Cassino, aged only 17.

 

Would be interested if you turn up a photo of Pte Johns; his is a much visited grave at Ranville, especially by school groups.



I'm glad to hear that, I was thinking that he would make a very poignant study for Schools. I'm going to do a bit of research and try and find out more about his background, exact date of birth, etc.

 

Flying Officer Charles Goble
624 (Special Duties) Squadron RAF (Stirlings)
Killed 14 July 1944
Runnymede Memorial
Age 21, from Stamshaw, Portsmouth

624 Squadron’s role was to insert and supply special agents behind the lines of Nazi-occupied Europe. Where Goble was operating when his plane was shot down, we can only speculate. In July 1944 the battle of Normandy was raging, and the French Maquis further south were certainly active against the Germans. 624 Squadron are also known to have flown missions over Poland. Documented records of 624 Squadron are very limited due to the secrecy of the work involved, and the fact that he has no known grave.

14 July 1944

624 Squadron
Halifax JN888
Place: Nistos, Hautes Pyrennes.

One of ten aircraft sent to various locations in southern France but it failed to return to Blida and wreckage was eventually located 62 miles south-west of Toulouse.

'Though Without Anger' - Cummings

 

14 July 1944

624 Squadron
Halifax JN888
Place: Nistos, Hautes Pyrennes.

One of ten aircraft sent to various locations in southern France but it failed to return to Blida and wreckage was eventually located 62 miles south-west of Toulouse.

'Though Without Anger' - Cummings

Many thanks for that Peter. Glad to find out that it was a Halifax, I know 624 were using a number of different types at the time.

Interesting place for them to have been too, must be near the Spanish border?

 

Flight Sergeant (Wireless Operator) Raymond Hayles DFM
15 Squadron, RAF (Lancasters, Mildenhall)
KIA 21 February 1944
Buried in Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany
Age 21, from Southsea

Flying in Lancaster LM456, LS-C. Airborne 2356 20 Feb 44 from Mildenhall. Target Stuttgart. Believed to have been destroyed by a combination of Flak and strikes from falling bombs in the target area.

DFM Gazetted 15 February 1944:

As wireless operator, this airman has participated in many attacks on targets in Germany, including such well defended targets as industrial centres in the Ruhr. He is a cool and efficient member of aircraft crew, whose unfailing devotion to duty has been highly commendable. On one occasion his aircraft suscained much damage in an engagement with a fighter. At times, on the homeward journey the aircraft was almost out of control but Flight Sergeant Hayles coolly worked 'at his wireless apparatus, obtaining fixes which greatly assisted his pilot to reach base. His efficient first aid to 2 of his comrades who had been wounded in the fight was a timely factor in saving their lives. His exemplary conduct in harassing circumstances was worthy of great praise.

 

Lieutenant-Commander William Hussey DSO DSC
HMS Lively
KIA 11 May 1942
Portsmouth Naval Memorial
Age 33, from Southsea

So far, Lieutenant-Commander William Hussey DSO DSC is the most highly decorated officer from Portsmouth I have researched who died in action during the Second World War.

In command of the Destroyer HMS Vesper, Hussey was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for succesful action against enemy Submarines while deployed on ant-Submarine patrols in the English Channel and the South West Approaches. His DSC was gazetted on 23 December 1939. Hussey also commanded the Vesper when she took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940.

In 1942, Hussey was in command of HMS Lively, another destroyer. He was awarded the Distinguished Service order for action against an enemy Convoy near Malta, as part of Force K. His DSO was Gazetted on 24 February 1942. In addition, Lt-Cdr. Hussey was Mentioned in Despatches three times during the Second World War.

After prolonged service in the Mediterranean during 1942, escorting Allied Convoys, attacking Axis Convoys and even taking on Italian Battleships, HMS Vesper was sunk on 11 May 1942, after heavy dive bombing attacks. She sank quickly in a position 100 miles North East of Tobruk on the North African Coast. 77 of her crew were killed, including Lieutenant-Commander Hussey. He and many of his crew are remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

 

Corporal Roy Henley
6225 Bomb Disposal Flight, RAF
KIA 7 June 1944
Runnymede Memorial
Age 23, from Fratton

3 Special RAF Bomb Disposal Squadrons were formed, consisting of 8 flights, to provide bomb disposal support during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe.

Corporal Henley’s unit was sent to Normandy on 7 June 1944, D+1. At 0400 the Landing Craft that they were in was engaged by German shore batteries and an E-Boat. The Landing Craft sank within 2 minutes, and Seven men were killed. 90% of their equipment was lost.

Corporal Henley was presumably lost at sea, as he is listed on the Runnymede Memorial, where all RAF personnel who have no known grave are remembered.

 

A couple more highly decorated Naval personnel:

Lieutenant Charles Walderne St Clair Lambert DSC and Bar
HM Submarine P615
KIA 18 April 1943
Portsmouth Naval Memorial
Age 24, from Southsea

CO of HM Submarine P615 from 17 Oct 42. Sunk on 18 April 1943 about 100 nautical miles south-west of Freetown in position 06º49'N, 13º09'W by a torpedo from the German submarine U-123. All hands were lost. DSC Gazetted 3 Apr 42 for courage skill and coolness in successful Submarine patrols. Bar to DSC Gazetted 17 July 1942.

Able Seaman William Blair Laing DSM
HMS Laforey
KIA 30 March 1944
Portsmouth Naval Memorial
Age 42, from Southsea

DSM Gazetted 5 Oct 1943 for operations which prevented the escape of enemy forces after their defeat in North Africa. MiD Gazetted 29 Dec 42 for gallantry and good service over 6 months. 2nd MiD Gazetted 23 May 1944 for action at Salerno.

 

Just to point out an error in the web site for Portsmouth heros,
portsmouth heroes « Daly History Blog

Under the report for Lt Commander Hussey it says HMS Vesper sank in May 1942, this is incorrect, Vesper continued through to 1945 and was broken up in 1948

 

Just to point out an error in the web site for Portsmouth heros,
portsmouth heroes « Daly History Blog

Under the report for Lt Commander Hussey it says HMS Vesper sank in May 1942, this is incorrect, Vesper continued through to 1945 and was broken up in 1948

Thank you Keith, I'll ammend it. Can't remember where I got my info from...