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Bermuda's War
Veterans
By Keith
Archibald Forbes (see About
Us) at e-mail exclusively for Bermuda
Online
To refer to
this file use "bermuda-online.org/war veterans.htm" as
your Subject.
The author also
writes other military files relating to Bermuda, namely
Royal Gazette
photo of new (2010) Bermuda War Memorial showing all from Bermuda who fell in
the Great War (1914-1918) and World War 2. Bermuda Regiment bandsmen played at
the Memorial's formal opening.
Introduction
Royal Gazette 2011
photo of Bermuda's Governor and a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) official
viewing the War Memorial.
Here in Bermuda, Canada, United
Kingdom and elsewhere in the British Commonwealth of Nations, Remembrance
Day, at the Cenotaph on Front Street in the city
of Hamilton every November 11 is a
very solemn day. For Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC, 1894-1946)
Association Members, Friends, Families and Community members who are interested,
it normally begins with an appearance at the BVRC War Memorial at Victoria Park,
Hamilton, for a Parade and Service of Remembrance, with laying of wreaths and
roll of honour. Then at 11 am, it is a parade for all surviving Bermuda veterans of World
Wars and Korean War (none served in the more recent Gulf Wars or in Afghanistan
or Iraq), in both the BVRC and other Bermuda military units such as the Bermuda
Militia Artillery, etc. at that time. Bermuda veterans of World Wars 1 and 2
and Korean War of the 1950s were mostly in the
Bermuda Home Guard or serving abroad in the British Army (Mostly Caribbean Regiment or Lincolnshire Regiment), Royal
Navy, Royal Marines, Merchant Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian
Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy and, as was the case of a few, the US Armed
Forces.
If well
enough to appear, they do so wearing their medals and march down part of Front Street.
Accompanied by the Bermuda
Regiment Band and Corps of Drums, the Salvation Army, North Village and Somerset
Brigade Bands, and the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band, veterans and officials reflect on their
comrades who fought for freedom.
At
11 a.m. guns fire at Fort Hamilton and Ordnance Island, St. George's, to signal
the two-minute silence, held every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the
11th month to commemorate the end of the First World War. Wreaths
are laid by the Governor, Premier, Hamilton Mayor,
Opposition Leader, the president of the War Veterans'
Association, the Defence Board chairman, the Regiment's commanding officer, the
Commissioner of Police and the Chief Fire Officer. They are
followed by former members or on behalf
of the Bermuda Home Guard and Bermuda Contingent of the Caribbean Regiment.
A service takes place in the
Bermuda Cathedral in the event of wet weather.
Among
those present in 2010 were Governor Sir Richard Gozney, Premier Paula Cox, United
Bermuda Party Leader Kim Swan and war veterans. The crowd join in singing
hymns, and a two-minute silence is done every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day
of the 11th month commemorated the end of the First Word War. An additional
parade takes place in St. George's on November 14, 2010. It will be attended by
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, and Lt. Col. Brian Gonsalves of
the Bermuda Regiment.
Remembrance
Day is the culmination of the annual Bermuda
Poppy Appeal conducted by the local branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL) led
by caseworker Carol Everson that honors 2,776 men and women from the Island's
armed forces who lost their lives during the two World Wars.
Poppies
are available seasonally throughout the Appeal at places including the
Cabinet Office, the Corporation of Hamilton and the Bermuda Regiment, as well as
churches and participating businesses. Donations are appreciated.
In conjunction with the
RBL, a separate unit for war veterans' families
is normally led through the streets by an officer from the Bermuda Regiment.
All relatives or descendants of a World War
veterans are invited to take part. Participants are welcome to wear the medals or awards of
the person they are representing. It was stressed they must
wear the decorations on the right arm rather than the left. The
RBL is a registered charity that works to assist war veterans and their widows.
RBL Bermuda belongs to a worldwide organization that can provide a wide range of
assistance. Some of the services include
assistance with medical bills, assistance with urgent loans and assistance with
Christmas presents. RBL Bermuda call
also upon the Royal British Legion's head office in London for larger capital
funds and grants.
The Remembrance Day Service pays
tribute to those who served locally or overseas in the two wars above and died
(90 Bermudians in World War 1, 35 Bermudians in the Second World War,
and those
who guarded freedom at home. Also in the Second World War, 29 Bermudian women
served overseas. In Bermuda, as at November 11, 2008, there were 183
living registered veterans and 78 widows of veterans. The Home Guard were joined by Bermudians
in Royal Naval Dockyard who kept to the Atlantic supply lines open, ensuring the
British received essential supplies.
Bermuda's
new war memorial, announced on November 10, 2009, was completed in November 2010
by the Ministry of Public Works..
It
sits on the Cabinet Grounds just east of the Cenotaph and contains the names of
almost 3,000 Bermudian men and women who served in the two World Wars. Names are
inscribed on seven highly polished black granite slabs and a diamond emblem in
gold leaf beside a name indicates that the serviceman or servicewoman is on the
roll of honour and lost their lives in wartime service. A fountain in front of
the memorial is made of a granite base and a highly-polished pink granite ball
which is the same stone used in the Anglican Cathedral in Hamilton. Seating
is provided at the memorial and
it is a serene place where surviving War Veterans, their children or
grandchildren other other relatives, members
of an appreciative public and visitors may gather to reflect upon and pay
respect to those who served our Island so heroically during the Great Wars.
Remembrance Day events are also
broadcast on the Government TV station CITV from 10.30 a.m plus CableVision Ch. 2
and WOW Ch 102.
The
town of St. George's also remembers the Island's war heroes, at a
Remembrance Day Parade in the Town Square opposite the War Memorial. Those
present include the Mayor, The Royal Artillery and Ex-Artillerymen's
Association, Bermuda Island Pipe Band, The Bermuda Regiment Band & Corp of
Drums, Bermuda Sea Cadets, St. George's Girl Guides, Bermuda Fire Service,
Bermuda Regiment Wreath Bearers, Bermuda Regiment Gun Troop, and the Boy Scouts
all participate in the ceremony.
At the HMS
Jervis Bay memorial at Albouy's Point, The Bermuda Sea Cadets host a Remembrance
Day service. It
is one of a number of memorial events around the world to honour those who
served on the HMS Jervis Bay, a 50,000 ton container ship that visited Bermuda
during the war years before it was sunk as it confronted the superior firepower
of a German warship in 1940 while escorting a convoy from Canada to the UK.
If veterans served with a British unit - as most of them did - they
also get the HM Armed Forces Veterans Badge, and a War Pension from the
United Kingdom. Eligibility to this
prestigious badge was widened following Remembrance Day 2005 to include all
those who served between the end of the Second World War and December, 1954,
thus encompassing the Korean War and military campaigns in Malaya undertaken by
British forces. Another
local veteran, also honored, served in Korea with the US Army. Unlike
in the UK, USA, Canada, etc. there are no retirement homes or hospitals
specifically for World War veterans. Some Bermuda veterans have had to pay
more than $100,000 out of their own money if they have it to overseas hospitals
for operations, owing to a lack of affordable medical insurance and no social
conscience in Bermuda from taxpayers' resources. If they don't have the funds,
they don't get treated overseas.
However, in Bermuda, registered
veterans and their widows get a Bermuda War Pensions benefit of $800 a month,
plus full coverage on all prescription drugs, medical tests at King Edward VII
Memorial Hospital and partial coverage for medical visits to local medical
general practitioners and specialists.
In England, on every
Sunday before Remembrance Day in London, the Foreign Secretary, on behalf of the Foreign
& Commonwealth Office, London, England, which administers Bermuda, lays before the Cenotaph (later copied by Bermuda) in
London a wreath to the fallen who died in the wars from the British Overseas
Territories. He is accompanied by the UK's Prime Minister, and leaders of the
Opposition - those from the main Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
The
wreath is supplied to the FCO by the Directors and Staff of, and hand-made at,
Kew Gardens, Britain's finest gardens, from flowers and botanicals in its
collection from all the Overseas Territories including some prized Bermudiana.
It always includes sprigs of two endemic Bermuda species, the Juniperus
bermudiana (Bermuda Cedar) tree and Chiococca
bermudiana (Bermuda snowberry) shrub.
Organizations
involved
| Bermuda
Contingent, Caribbean Regiment |
|
| Bermuda Home
Guard |
|
| Bermuda Legion |
Bermuda
charity 109. The mission is to assist war veterans and their widows.
Looks after Bermuda WW1 and 2 and Korean War, etc. war veterans of past,
present and future officers and soldiers in units now part of the
Bermuda Regiment. Has its own agenda for welfare and for insurance. Can
air-ambulance people, can provide travel costs and cover medical
expenses, which the former Royal Bermuda Legion could not. Has helped
with air evacuations; has a Christmas appeal, taking food hampers and
baskets all over the Island. Assists in individual cases of need, helps
with healthcare bills, and helps many people find help with the
different Government agencies, such as Financial Assistance. Can provide
immediate assistance for people without having to go to London for it.
In this way, has aligned itself with the Caribbean nations who have
their own Legions — notably Jamaica, which has a very successful
Legion. Fund raising remains constant for war veteran widows, whose
assistance from Government has had to be cut in recent years. Everything
the Legion raises stays in Bermuda. “We don’t speculate; we don’t
invest money — every single contribution for welfare is used for
welfare here in Bermuda.” In the ten-day run up to November 11, the
Bermuda Legion sets out on its campaign with the signature red poppies. |
| Bermuda
Militia Artillery |
Black soldiers
of Bermuda until 1965, with a proud record of combat in two World Wars
Photo:
Royal Gazette
|
| Bermuda
Volunteer Rifle Corps Overseas Association (BVRC) |
Held its 89th annual reunion at Warwick
Camp in May 2007 - always first Saturday in May. Founded in 1919
after World War 1. Commemorates first Saturday of May 1915 when the
first contingent of white Bermuda soldiers left Bermuda to join the
Royal Lincolnshire Regiment in France. |
| Bermuda Regiment |
Did not exist
until 1975 when it was formed to include the black Bermuda Militia
Artillery and white Bermuda Rifles |
| Bermuda War
Veterans Association (BWVA) |
P. O. Box HM
2716, Hamilton HM LX, Bermuda. With less than 80 war veterans left in
2008. A local charity founded in 1919 by returning servicemen from the
Great War to provide assistance to those who went overseas to serve,
originally in the First World War and in other wars subsequently. In
2007 alone, the BWVA gave out over $200,000 in aid to needy
Bermuda War Veterans and their dependants. The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle
Corps (BVRC) were considered to be of such a high standard when they
joined the Lincolnshire Regiment in the Great War that they were allowed
to fight under their own colours, despite being only a company. The
Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA) was the first black unit to serve in the
Great War. It distinguished itself on the front and received several
battle honours. World War 2 saw similar sacrifice and dedication from
Bermudians, many of whom joined other Commonwealth Units such as the
Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, British Army, Canadian Army, Royal Canadian
Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, etc. In November 2011, just days before
2011 Remembrance Day, Jack Lightbourn of the BWVA reported in the media
that difficult financial times will result in less money for the
Island’s remaining veterans. He noted the organization will have to
reduce the financial support it gives to veterans by more than 50
percent. “In November, the people we are supporting who usually
receive $850 will receive $500. We can’t do anything about it. We are
lucky we were able to do what we did.” He confirmed the organization
provides funds for three Bermudian veterans who served overseas and 12
widows of veterans. Among the issues facing the organization was that it
had invested heavily into shares of Butterfield Bank, which has
undergone financial turmoil in recent years. “The worst of it was a
loss of $45,000 of income,” Mr Lightbourn said. “That’s the part
that really hurt.” Another issue, he said, is that the majority of
donations the organisation receives comes from seniors. “I’m sure
that a lot of people will continue to help us as they have always done,
but many of the people who are supporters are people of our own age and
a lot of them are gone now. The families don’t seem to come in behind
and the kids don’t have the same feelings we do.” Mr Lightbourn
served in the Royal Navy near the close of the Second World War. He was
on a minesweeper with a convoy when they were attacked by a group of
German U-boats. RC 140 |
| Bermuda War
Veterans Commissioners |
The men whose
interests they represent are all senior citizens. See Bermuda
Government Boards. Registered Charity 140. Established to
provide assistance to those who went overseas to serve, originally in
the First World War and in other wars subsequently. It cannot support
financially those who served on the home front. |
| Royal Artillery
Association Bermuda Branch |
Functions
include having an annual Remembrance Sunday Wreath Laying Ceremony,
Parade and Church Service in St. George's on King's Square and St.
Peter's Church, led by the Band of the Bermuda Regiment, to commemorate Remembrance Day. Decorations and medals are worn. |
| War Veterans
Pensions Commission (WVPC) |
Unlike
veterans in other countries, Bermuda pays a pension only to those who
served overseas |
Poppy Poem
Since
the Great War of 1914-1918 poppies have been since World War 1 the national and international symbol for
British airmen, soldiers, sailors and marines who perished while serving their
country in world wars and the Korean conflict. When we mourn Bermuda's dead in Remembrance
Day ceremonies each November, we think of a flower - a poppy. Why? Because of the following
immortal lines from a poem: "If
ye break faith with us who die, we will not sleep, though poppies grow in
Flander's fields."
The author of this famous
"poppy" poem was Colonel John McCrae, who was a distinguished
professor of Medicine at McGill University after he served in the Boer War. On the outbreak of war in 1914,
he at once enlisted in the Canadian Army, 1st Brigade Artillery, which was sent to fight
in Belgium.
Soon after landing in Europe, he
was made Medical Officer. During the second battle of Ypres
in 1915 he was so horrified, appalled and heart-sick over the senseless
slaughter of so many hundreds of thousands of men that he penned the following
words, used to this day on 11th November.
These verses were
sent anonymously to the British magazine Punch, which published them in December
1915 under the
title "In Flanders' Fields."
Colonel McCrae died from his battle
wounds in 1918.
| "In
Flanders' fields the poppies blow. |
Take up our
quarrel with the foe; |
| Between the
crosses, row on row, |
To you from
failing hands we throw |
| That mark our
place; and in the sky |
The torch be
yours to hold it high |
| The larks
still bravely singing fly, |
If ye break
faith with us who die |
| Scarce heard
amid the guns below. |
We shall not
sleep, though poppies grow |
| We are the
dead. Short days ago |
In Flanders'
fields." |
| We lived, felt
dawn, saw sunset glow, |
|
| Loved and were
loved, and now we lie |
|
| in Flanders'
fields. |
|
The poem expressed McCrae's grief
over the "row on row" of graves of soldiers who had died on Flanders'
battlefields, located in a region of western Belgium and northern France. The
poem presented a striking image of the bright red flowers blooming among the
rows of white crosses and became a rallying cry to all who fought in the First
World War. McCrae's poem had a huge impact on two women, Anna E. Guerin of
France and Georgia native Moina Michael. Both worked hard to initiate the sale
of artificial poppies to help orphans and others left destitute by the war. By
the time Guerin established the first sale in the U.S., in 1920 with the help of
The American Legion, the poppy was well known in the allied countries —
America, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — as the
"Flower of Remembrance." Proceeds from that first sale went to the
American and French Children's League. Guerin had difficulty with the
distribution of the poppies in early 1922 and sought out Michael for help.
Michael had started a smaller-scaled Poppy Day during a YMCA conference she was
attending in New York and wanted to use the poppies as a symbol of remembrance
of the war. Guerin, called the "Poppy Lady of France" in her homeland,
and Michael, later dubbed "The Poppy Princess" by the Georgia
legislature, went to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for help. Following its
first nationwide distribution of poppies in 1922, the VFW adopted the poppy as
its official memorial flower. However, a shortage of poppies from French
manufacturers led to the idea of using unemployed and disabled veterans to
produce the artificial flowers.
Bermuda's Roll
of Honour
1. Great War of
1914 to 1918
Bermuda lost 80
men in overseas service in the Great War. They served in (a) the Bermuda Militia
Artillery, one of the units that served and fought with the gunners of the Royal
Garrison Artillery; (b) the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps. They matched up with
foot soldiers of British army regiments, and (c) others who had signed up for
the Royal Flying Corps (later, the Royal Air Force) and other units.
Bermudians en route by
troopship to France and Belgium in World War 1.
They died
fighting for Bermuda and the UK. For Bermuda soldiers killed in this Great
War and buried overseas in a British Commonwealth War Graves-registered
plot, they can be researched at http://www.cwgc.org/.
| Adcock,
Cyril Clarence |
Alick,
Richard Thomas Ambrose |
Anderson,
W. F |
| Arnold,
William Henry |
Baker,
Henry Arnold |
Baker,
Howard Junior |
| Bridges,
Arthur Percy. Brother of Harry Francis Bridges. Died of
wounds in Bermuda on February 25th 1918. |
Bridges,
Harry Francis. Killed at Vermelles, France on November 5th 1916. He
was a Lance Corporal, Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps attached to 1st
Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. Service No. 25334. He is buried in the
British Cemetery in Vermelles. The original wooden cross from his grave
hangs on the wall in St. Marks Church, Cherry Orchard, Worcester,
England near where he was brought up. His daughter, still living in July
2010, is Eleanor Gibbons-Brown who wrote the book "War Baby"
about her life. |
Brown,
Ewart Cudmore |
| Brown,
W |
Burgesson,
Agnel Eugene |
Burrows,
John Philip |
| Cannon,
John Arthur |
Condor,
Wilfred Augustus |
Conyers,
Walter Neville |
| Cooper,
John Henry |
Dean,
S. G. |
Dickinson,
Percival Earle |
| Dill,
Charles Wentford Alfred |
Doe,
Andrew Elliott |
Easton,
William Edward |
| Farrell,
Patrick Joseph |
Fowler,
William James |
Frith,
Frederick Hervey, Jr. Served in a Canadian Army unit. Possibly
with the BVRC earlier. Understood to have been connected with Frith's
Hardware, Front Street, Bermuda. |
| Godet,
Leonard DeGraff |
Gorham,
Clive William |
Gunn,
Archibald D. |
| Harriott,
Nathaniel Benjamin |
Hollis,
Edward Kimball |
Holman,
Charles Edward |
| Jackson,
Cyril Healy |
Joell,
Walter |
Kyme,
Walter Robert |
| Lamb,
Albert Ernest |
Lightbourn,
Robert |
Marshall,
Frederick George |
| Martin,
William George |
Millett,
Henry William |
Morris,
Louis William |
| Morton,
Cyril |
Motyer,
Arthur John |
Mussenden,
J |
| Noble,
Herbert Stafford |
O'Connor,
James Archibald |
Outerbridge,
Benjamin Whitaker |
| Pawsey,
Frank |
Pitcher,
Eldon Liverstone |
Pitman,
Byron McWarren |
| Place,
Charles Wentworth |
Platten,
Andrew Richard |
Purdue,
Edward Colston |
| Richardson,
Whitford Stephen |
Robertson,
Charles Granville |
Robinson,
Cecil Beaumont |
| Robinson,
Charles Bryan |
Ryder,
W. George |
Sheppard,
Arthur Leroy |
| Simmons,
Hayford Douglas |
Smith.
A. G |
Smith,
Charles Kennelly |
| Smith,
Donald Gray |
Smith,
Frederick Lea |
Smith,
Kenneth Nesbit |
| Smith,
T. Wardell |
Smith,
William Edmund. (The first Bermudian to die in the Great War. He
drowned when his ship, HMS Aboukir was sunk on 22 September 1914). |
Steele,
Eric Gauntlett |
| W.
Gordon Stollard |
Stowe,
Arthur Granville |
Swan,
S. S |
| Symons,
Joseph Henry Fulton. Gunner, BMA (but he was reported to have returned
home on July 1, 1919 |
Tatem,
Philip Archibald, Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC). Serving with 1st Bn. Lincolnshire
Regiment. Born July 30, 1892, Spanish Point, Pembroke Parish. Killed
September 25, 1916 in Battle of the Somme and listed on the Thiepval Memorial
(Pier & Face 1C). Oldest son of William Thomas Tatem and
Emmie Jessie Miles.
|
Thiele,
William |
| Tiller,
William |
Tite,
William James |
Trimingham,
James Lightbourn, brother of Wentworth Gray |
| Trimingham,
Wentworth Gray (brother of James Lightbourn Trimingham). A Memorial
Death Plaque for him, known as "Dead Man's Penny" was issued
by the British Government to salute him and many others.
|
Tucker,
Alexander Ewing |
Tucker,
Edmund Ernest |
| Tucker,
George Frederick S |
Tucker,
George Samuel |
Tucker,
St. George Streuli Murray |
| Turini,
Basil Louis |
Vallis,
Alfred Hoare |
Wadson,
Stanley Parker |
| Ward,
Errol Stephen Remsen |
Watlington,
Henry Joseph |
Wears,
Rudolph George |
| White,
Walter Adrastus |
Whitecross,
Harold Collins |
Wingood,
Allan Charles |
Officers and NCOs
of Bermuda Contingent, Royal Garrison Artillery, who served in France and
Belgium in World
War 1. Photographed in England prior to their departure to the front. One of
those was William (Lanky) Furbert. British Army photo.
Bermuda Volunteer
Rifle Corps members who served in France and Belgium with the Lincolnshire
Regiment in World War 1. British Army photo.
Philip Tatem,
BVRC, 1st Bn. Lincolnshire Regiment, killed September 25, 1916 at Battle of the
Somme. One of those who went by sea to France on the ship above. He was
the great-uncle of Sherri Panchaud Onorati who kindly sent this photo.
2. World War 2
1939-1945
They died
fighting for Bermuda and the Allies. For Bermuda airmen, soldiers, sailors and
marines killed in World War 2 and Korean War and buried overseas in a British Commonwealth War Graves-registered plot,
they can be researched at http://www.cwgc.org/.
|
Baxter,
Winston C. Died in Italy in September 1944 and was buried at
Pompeii. He had volunteered for and was serving in the Bermuda Militia
Infantry. |
Brennan,
Edward Joseph. A stepbrother in Bermuda's Vallis family, he died in June
1945 in action over Germany, having joined the RAF and later transferred
to the American Army Air Force. He was awarded the USA's Air
Medal, the Distinguished Flying Medal and posthumously, a Purple Heart. |
Brewer,
John Edward Darrell Carlyle. Of
215 Squadron Royal Air Force, he was killed in action in May 1942
over Singapore, fighting the Japanese. |
|
Burgess,
Howard Sinclair. Fireman and trimmer on
the Henri Mory, sunk April 26, 1941. Torpedoed by U-110
in the North Atlantic. The U-110 had a very short career of only two
sailings and was sunk a few weeks later. It remained afloat long enough
for the British to board it and remove an Enigma code machine and many
secret documents. |
Corbett,
Frank Charles. He
served with the Royal Navy/Fleet Air Arm on HMS Dipper, not a warship
but at Henstridge
Airfield, England, built during World War II as a training base for the
Fleet Air Arm, who commissioned it as HMS Dipper. He survived the war but died
at the age of 47 some months after the war ended, while still in the
service. |
DeSilva,
John. Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, attached to the Lincolnshire
Regiment. Killed at Overloon, Holland, October 14, 1944. |
|
Drew,
Alfred David Drewsbury. Merchant Navy. On the Bermuda
Roll of Honour but neither his date nor place of death are known. At the
beginning of the Second World War in 1939, he was a young man of 20
years. He volunteered for convoy service to Britain and
was lost when his ship was torpedoed or bombed at Milford Haven while at
anchor. His date of death is not known and his name is not recorded on the
lists of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
|
Ede,
Herman Francis Grant, Flying Officer, Royal Air Force.
1940.
June 8. Killed in action. Following
the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, Ede was flying
Gloster Gladiators with the RAF's 263 Squadron in Norway protecting the
fleet anchorage at Skånland. On 2 June 1940, the squadron was
ordered to prepare for evacuation.
Along
with the remaining members of his squadron and 10 aircraft, Ede embarked
on HMS Glorious on 7 June. The next day, Glorious, along her escorts
Ardent and Acasta, were sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst
and Gneisenau. Ede was just 23 years old, the son of Ernest Grant Ede
and Winifred Louise Ede, of Pembroke, Bermuda. His name is inscribed on
the 5th Panel at the Runnymede Memorial, Berkshire, England. |
Fowle,
Alison William Bluck. Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
attached to the Lincolnshire Regiment. He died in late August 1944 at
Calvados, France, as his unit was fighting to access Germany. |
|
Frost,
Harry Reginald. Bermuda
Volunteer Rifle Corps attached to the Lincolnshire Regiment, killed in
late April 1945 in Germany. |
Hallett,
William Cardy Hollis. Stationed
in Malta where he flew Hurricanes, he was killed in action in March 1942
while serving in the Royal Air Force. |
Harris,
Elgar Frederick. He was a British Army parachutist, a Somerset man of the
Perinchief family. He died in Tunisia in November 1942, along with all
the members of his group who jumped with him from their plane. They were
never seen again. |
| Harris,
Warren James. Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps attached to the Lincolnshire
Regiment, killed in The Netherlands in early October, 1944. |
Hennessay,
Edward Eugene. Bermuda
Volunteer Rifle Corps attached to Lincolnshire regiment, killed March
1945 at Winnekendonk, Germany. |
Hughes,
Frederick Gerald David. US
Army Air Force. Died in an accident in May 1945. |
|
Hutchings,
Douglas William Howard. Merchant Navy. Lost
on January 16, 1941. An oiler, on one of the two British vessels sunk
that day, the Zealandic and the Oropesa. |
Hutchings,
Harold Edwin |
Linton,
James Hugh Arnold. Killed
in action in April 1941 in Egypt. |
|
Meyer,
Noel Lumley. Was returning to Bermuda via
Canada after service with the Royal Air Force, from which he had been
invalided out. He was travelling on the
Lady Hawkins, one of the "Lady Boats" that had served
Bermuda and the West Indies for several decades. The ship was torpedoed
on January 19, 1942 south of Boston by U-66, with the loss of 255 souls.
Meyer was last seen helping survivors into lifeboats, 71 persons later
being rescued. |
Monkman,
Francis Walter. Bermuda
Volunteer Rifle Corps attached to Lincolnshire regiment, killed March
1945 at Winnekendonk, Germany. |
Outerbridge,
James.
Born 5 Sept. 1922. Educ. Whitney
Institute., Bermuda; Rossall School, England. Accepted for Rhodes
Scholarship but was interrupted by war. P./O. R.A.F.; M.E.F. 1941-3. Killed,
shot while attempting to escape from P.O.W. Camp, Italy, 1 May 1943. |
|
Patterson,
Willard. Private, Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, attached
to the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. Killed at Overloon, Holland, October 14,
1944. Service number 18005056. Buried at Overloon with his comrades.
British Commonwealth War Dead, Grave Memorial Reference I B. 2, Overloon
War Cemetery.
|
Perenchief,
Walter Hewson. Died in action in December 1941 at El Alamein,
serving with the British Army. |
Scott,
Frank. Flying Officer, J/43783, Royal Canadian Air Force. On 1st
March 1945 the Wellington bomber in which he was serving crashed into
the village of Norton, near Evesham, Worcestershire, England, shortly
after taking off from nearby Honeybourne, bound for Germany.
He was buried in Norton. He
was the
son of Arthur Havelock and Rena Scott, Tucker's Town. |
|
Shelton,
Stanley Arthur. A
member of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, he'd been attached to the
Lincolnshire Regiment. He died in action in February 1941. |
Smith,
Major Anthony Frith (Toby). Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, attached to the
Lincolnshire Regiment. Killed at Overloon, Holland, October 14, 1944.
Major Smith was one of 12
children, five of whom saw active military duties in two world wars. He
and the entire first contingent of soldiers of the BVRC and Bermuda
Militia Artillery (BMA), survived a U-boat attack in July 1940 and spent
several years in the United Kingdom before finally seeing active combat.
Meanwhile, his family struggled to make ends meet during the war from
their home in the United States and then in Bermuda. |
Stephenson,
Jay Circott. Bermuda
Volunteer Rifle Corps, attached to the Lincolnshire Regiment. Died
November 12, 1944 after being wounded by the enemy. He sought shelter in
a barn in Holland, which the Germans set fire. His tags and a picture of
his girlfriend identified him. |
|
Thomas,
Alfred John. Royal
Air Force, killed in a bombing raid over Germany in July 1943 |
Vallis,
Daisy Louise W. Died May 5, 1946. Only Bermudian woman killed in
action in WW2. She
was killed on her way to be demobbed. She was a Leading Aircraftwoman of
the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women's Division). |
Welch,
Geoffrey A. Flying
for the Royal Air Force, he was killed in action in early 1943 over
Benghazi in Libya during the North African campaign. |
|
West,
George Wendell. Died
in 1942 at Timor from war wounds. |
White,
Richard Martin. Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, attached to the
Lincolnshire Regiment. Killed at Overloon, Holland, October 14, 1944. |
Whitecross,
James Standley. He
had joined the RAF in November 1940. He was killed when flying over
Germany in October 1943. |
| Williams,
Granville Barton. Unlike all other Bermudians, he served in the US Army. On
May 2, 1945, he was killed in Europe. Earlier, he had received the
Bronze Star, Silver Star and Purple Heart, for valor.
|
Lieut.
Cecil John Greenway Wright, RNVR. Died in action on November 24,
1941. He served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve on HMS Dunedin when
it was torpedoed on November 24, 1941, by U-124, halfway between Sierre
Leone and Brazil. He was one of the 419 men lost, only 67 of the crew
surviving. In 1940, Dunedin had been posted to
the America and West Indies Station at Bermuda and thereafter was on the
South Atlantic Station, pursuing enemy surface ships in those waters.
Wright was a veteran of two World Wars, having served in the
Great War in the
Canadian Field Artillery and thus was one of the oldest men from Bermuda
killed when fighting for the Allies. |
|
Joseph Robert Gibbons, born 19
May 1929, was also once listed in the above in error, but survived his service
in the Royal Air Force (1940-45) and returned to Bermuda after the war before
traveling about the Caribbean islands as an employee of Esso Carribe. In 1956,
he was transferred to Canada and settled down in Toronto where he passed away 13
January 1976 leaving his wife, Joan Mary (Hawes) and his children, Sharon Joan,
Meredith Anne and Bruce William Watson.
Members of Bermuda
Militia Artillery (BMA) sent to Europe in World War 2. The author will welcome
receiving their names, for inclusion here.
Members of BMA
celebrating after the war. They included Sinclair
Furbert, with the BMA in Bermuda from 1943 to 1945.
Members of Bermuda
Volunteer Rifle Corps sent to Europe in World War 2. They included Herbert Tatem.
Other units
included
Some indication of
who they were will be welcomed so they can be mentioned here.
World War 2
Bermudians in the British Army, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy and US Army
This list, not
complete by any means - the author would love to get some more to go with the
photographs displayed earlier - of those not mentioned by name elsewhere to
date - included Tommy Aitchison (who moved to USA
in 2004; Major Appleby; Robert Ascento; Captain J. Carlton
Astwood; Barnes; Wyndham Barnes; Geoffrey Bird (Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm, later
a realtor and a founder member of the Royal Navy Association of Bermuda); Albert Benjamin (electronic service engineer at
HM Dockyard); Captain N. T. Campbell; Card; John Card; Captain Fred Clipper (US
Army); Henry Dallas; Owen Darrell; Lieutenant Colonel Michael Darling; DeFontes; Eugene
Doughty; Jack Exell; Frank Farmer (HMS Ulster); Benny Ferguson; Ronald Firth;
George Fisher; Franklin; Major General Glyn Gilbert; Malcolm Gosling; Sir
Richard Gorham; Sergeant Grange; Hooper; Virginia Hooper; John Keefe (Canadian
Army); Cyril J. Kempe; Commander Anthony Law RCN, Corporal Mary Leighton; David
Lindsay; Sergeant John MacDonald; Graham Madeiros; Herbie Marshall; Louis
Panchaud; Major Patrick L. Purcell (March 16, 1918-February 21, 2002);
Mello; Sandy Powell; William Riker; Anthony Russell; Alfred Simmons, MBE;
Slater; A. E. Toby Smith; Lieutenant J. Brownlow Tucker; Stan
Walenciak; Bill Westerfield.
World War 2
Bermudians of Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)
See Bermuda
Aviation, under "1940."
They included
- John Brewer
- Bobby Burnard
- Royston Dodwell (his son David
is a hotelier in Bermuda)
- Joseph Robert Gibbons
- William Kempe (later a
barrister, became one of the founders of Appleby Spurling & Kempe, now
Appleby Spurling & Hunter)
- Jim Lang
- Teddy Nicholl
- Geoff Osborn (awarded the
George Medal, see Mid Ocean News story of January 22, 1972. He continued his
career in aviation in ATC postwar in Dusseldorf, Germany; Lusaka,
Northern Rhodesia (during the Comet runs to Capetown); then at Speke, Stanstead and Heathrow before returning to management in the
Bermuda Airport. He now lives in Poole, in southern England. His son Michael
is now in airport management in Bermuda.
- Jack Pitt
- Pete Perenchief
- Percy Roach
- Martin Smith (later a
barrister in Bermuda)
- Francis Stephens
- Jackie Thomas
- Jimmy Vallis
- Wing Commander E. M.
"Mo" Ware (after the war when he arrived, he remained in Bermuda
and became a Bermudian).
- Hugh Watlington, DFC (died
2003)
- Alan (Smokey) Wingood,
DFC, married Peggy from England, later a diver and historian
- Jimmy Whitecross.
Other Bermudians too joined the
RAF, as graduates of the Bermuda Flying School.
Those who went to Canada and
joined the Royal Canadian Air Force included
- Fred (Red) Adderley
- Harold Dale, later a Bermuda
insurance executive
- Arthur (Copper) Jenkins
- Norman Jones, later a Bermuda
bank executive
- David Kopec
- Charles Nunn
- Robert Oatway
- John H. (Jack) Osborn (brother
of Geoff Osborn who served in the RAF); served in Coastal Command of the
RCAF in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific (after Japanese invasion of
the Aleutians). He now lives in Lumberton, NJ, USA and his email
address is jho291@juno.com. He kindly
supplied this author with some information on himself, his brother and Eldon
Williams.
- Arnold Redman
- Richards (first name
unknown)
- Norman Sumpter, later a
Bermuda insurance executive
- Squires (first name unknown)
- John Hartley Watlington.
It took him more than a year to escape from France and return home, which he
did on 10 July 1944. He authored an account of his adventures
published in the Bermuda Historical Quarterly in 1949.
- Geoffrey Welch
- Eldon Williams (older brother
of Billy and Charley Williams), RCAF fighter pilot, shot down by friendly
fire during D-Day operations. Jack Osborn saw him in hospital in New
Westminster, British Columbia in 1945.
- Herbert (Chummy) Zuill, later
a Bermuda Olympics sportsman and philanthropist.
Bermudian women who served in
World War 1
Cassie B. White. Her
wartime actions were so remarkable they prompted General John J. Pershing,
Commander-in-Chief of the United States Forces in France, to cite her in 1919
for conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty at great risk under fire.
Bermudian women served
overseas in World War 2 in these units
- Royal Canadian Air Force
(Women's Division)
- Royal Air Force
- Auxiliary Territorial Service
- Women's Royal Naval
Service
- Women's Auxiliary Air Force;
- First Aid Nursing
Yeomanry
They included
Lillian Bell, Stella Benevides,
Betty Mary Cousland Leighton, Daisy Vallis (killed in action), Royal Canadian
Air Force (Women's Division) with Bermuda shoulder badge. There were 17 other
Bermudian women with the unit.
Bermudian women in
the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War 2. They included, from left, Lillian
Bell, Daisy Vallis, Kathleen Bromby, Iris Jackson, Betty Cousland (later,
Leighton), Lucy Benevides, Frida Rigby, Joan Lee and Mary Adams (not shown but
present on right).
Lobelia Curtis (later Bubenzer),
Margaret Ferrar and Eva Robinson, British Army Auxiliary Territorial
Services. They endured convoys across the North Atlantic and bombings of
cities and towns in England. In May 1945, when World War 2 in Europe ended,
Miss Curtis was the only enlisted Bermudian woman to march in the June 1945
Victory Parade in London. Later, she married a German prisoner of war in
England.
Altogether there were 29
Bermudian women who served overseas in the Second World War.
Many Bermudian women served in
Bermuda during World War 2. Members of the Bermuda Militia Artillery
included June Reid Smith and Betty Ingemann.
Civilian women were also employed
by local forces. They gave refugee and medical assistance, and supported or
operated a host of wartime charity efforts including the Bermuda Women's
Auxiliary Force, St. John's Ambulance Brigade, Bermuda Catering Corps and the
Bermuda Services Overseas Association.
Bermuda
Catering Corps war ladies who volunteered their services at the Hamilton Hotel
canteen in World War 2. They included, from left to right, Charlotte Ellen
Hobbs, Jocelyn Motyer, Mrs Norman Parker, Mrs. Nellie Creelman (seated), Jean
Hill Qua and Mrs. William Frith.
Korean War
Bermudian
Corporal Henry Eric Dowling, US Army. Killed
in action in Korea on December 19, 1950. In
US Army records he is listed wrongly as from the US Virgin Islands.
Vietnam War
Elverton A. Mapp, US Army, is
a Bermudian who served in and survived this war. He is the son of
Mr
and Mrs Elverton Mapp of Friswell's Hill.
Mr Mapp
Jr. lives
in Huntsville, Alabama as a police officer for a state university. He
left Bermuda in 1966 to attend college in Alabama and
later decided
to enlist in the US Army in 1971, retiring in
1994. To date he
is the only known Bermudian who is a Vietnam veteran. His cousin Lawson Mapp
was a Mayor of Hamilton.
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Last Updated: May
16, 2013.
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