Dugdale, Joseph, son of Joseph Dugdale, cotton manufacturer, of Blackburn, Lancs, and Edith Berry of Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire; b. 7 Jan. 1914; adm. Jan. 1928 (H); left Dec. 1928; North­ampton Engineering Coll., Islington; PO RAF July 1937, FO Feb. 1939, Flight Lieut. Sept. 1940, Temp. Sqdn Ldr Dec. 1941; DFC May 1942 for night attacks on German base at Trondheim; killed in action 26 July 1943.

Joseph Dugdale was born at Blackburn, Lancashire on the 7th of January 1914 the only son of Joseph Dugdale, a cotton manufacturer, and Edith (nee Berry) Dugdale of Park House, 2 East Park Road, Blackburn.
He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Homeboarders from January 1928 to December 1928. He went on to the Northampton Engineering College, Islington. He was commissioned as an Acting Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force on the 7th of September 1936 and was confirmed in his rank on the 13th of July 1937. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 13th of February 1939 and was transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on the 13th of July 1940. He was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on the 3rd of September 1940 and to Squadron Leader on the 1st of December 1941.
He was serving with 97 Squadron when he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in two night attacks on an enemy naval base at Trondheim. His award was announced by the Air Ministry on the 29th of May 1942 and the citation read: - “This officer has completed numerous operational missions, including 2 attacks by night on the German naval base at Trondheim in April, 1942. On the latter occasion, he commanded a formation of bombers and he played a large part in the success achieved. Recently he successfully carried out a minelaying mission in extremely unfavourable weather. This officer has performed excellent work and has contributed materially to the high standard and efficiency of his flight.”
He later transferred to 90 Squadron.
On the night of the 25th/26th of July 1943, Bomber Command dispatched 294 Lancasters, 211 Halifaxes, 104 Stirlings, 67 Wellingtons and 19 Mosquitos for an operation on Essen. The operation was considered to have been a success with heavy damage being achieved in the industrial areas in the eastern part of the city with the Krupps works received its most damaging raid of the war. 51 other industrial buildings were destroyed with a further 81 being damaged. 2,852 houses were destroyed with 500 people being killed on the ground. A further 12 people were missing and 1,208 were injured.
Joseph Dugdale and his crew took off from RAF West Wickham at 11.37pm on the 25th of July 1943 in Stirling Mk III EE904 WP-S for the operation. The aircraft is believed to have crashed into the North Sea in the area of Great Yarmouth.
The crew was: -
Squadron Leader Joseph Dugdale DFC (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Ferguson Bowman RNZAF (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Patrick Hector Conroy (Navigator)
Flying Officer Henry Alington Disbrowe (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant David Geoffrey Evans RAAF (2nd Pilot)
Sergeant Desmond Frank Augustus Hobbs (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant James Hamilton Keeley RNZAF (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Norman Albert Young (Mid Upper Gunner)
Theirs was one of twenty six aircraft which failed to return from the raid.
It is believed that the aircraft collided with Halifax Mk II JD169 from 102 Squadron over the North Sea but it is not known whether it was during the outward or inward leg of their journey. The bodies of three of the crew were recovered from the sea some 15 miles off the coast near Yarmouth; the bodies of four of the crew from the 102 Squadron aircraft were recovered at the same time.
Norman Young’s body was washed ashore at Southwold, Suffolk with those of James Keeley and Henry Disbrowe also washing ashore on the English coast.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Blackburn.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial Panel 158.

Abbott, James Alexander, son of Albert Abbott CBE, Chief Inspector Technological branch, Board of Education, and Nancy, d. of Edwin Hargreaves of Chorley, Lancs; b. 25 April, 1909; adm. Sept. 1922 (R); left July 1927; Ch. Ch. Oxf., matric. 1927, BA 1931; adm. a solicitor Dec. 1934; practised in London and Burton-on-Trent; RAFVR (FO Oct. J 942), invalided Nov. 1943; m. 15 Sept. 1939 Eleanor Dorothy, d. of Ernest Hastings Nicolls of Stevenage, Herts; d. 20 May 1944 of illness contracted on active service in North Africa.

James Alexander Abbott was born at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire on the 25th of April 1909 the only son of Albert Abbott CBE MA, Chief Inspector for the Technological Branch of the Board of Education, and Nancy (nee Hargreaves) Abbott of 130, Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton, later of Catwell, Williton in Somerset. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1922 to July 1927. He matriculated for Christ Church, Oxford in 1927 where he achieved a BA in 1931. He qualified as a solicitor in December 1934 and worked at Burton-on-Trent and in London, where he lived with his sister at 3, Templars Rise, Golders Green in Middlesex.
He was married at Hitchin, Hertfordshire on the 15th of September 1939 to Eleanor Dorothy (nee Nicolls) of Stevenage, Hertfordshire and the couple lived at Ivy House, Ickleton, Saffron Walden in Essex. They had a son, Roger, born on the 15th of June 1940.
He was commissioned as an Acting Pilot Officer on probation in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on the 17th of October 1941 and was confirmed in his rank on the 17th of December 1941. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 1st of October 1942.
He served in North Africa and later returned to England where he resigned his commission on the grounds of ill health on the 24th of November 1943.
He died at Cambridge from an illness he had contracted while on overseas service.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Christ Church, Oxford.
He is buried at St George’s Church, Sampford Brett.

Armstrong, Lindsay Crawford, son of Hugh Clayton Armstrong, solicitor, of Bromley, Kent, and Norah MacMahon, d. of William Henry Cortland Mahon of Dulwich; b. 21 June 1912; adm. April 1926 (A); left July 1929; a timber merchant; Roy. Sussex Regt 1940-4 (Lieut.); m.; d. of smallpox on active service in India 10 Apr. 1944.

Lindsay Crawford Armstrong was born at Bromley, Kent on the 21st of June 1912 the youngest son of Hugh Clayton Armstrong, a solicitor, and Nora Macmahon (nee Mahon) Armstrong of 7, Sanford Road, Bromley. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from April 1926 to July 1929 after which he went to work as a timber merchant. He was married at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1933 to Leonore “Nordie” Mary (nee Langton) of Chidham in Sussex.
Following the outbreak of war he attended an Officer Cadet Training Unit before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment on the 21st of September 1940. He was later attached to the 1st Battalion, Sierra Leone Regiment.
On the 1st of February 1944, the 1st Battalion, Sierra Leone Regiment was advancing down the banks of the Kaladan River in Burma in pursuit of the retreating Japanese, who had placed a number of ambush parties in their path. D Company was patrolling in advance of the rest of the Battalion when Lindsay Armstrong singlehandedly killed an entire seven man Japanese patrol.
He was later contracted smallpox from which he died.
He is buried at Chittagong War Cemetery Plot 7, Row D Grave 8

Baker-Cresswell, Gilfrid Edward, son of Henry Gilfrid Baker-Cresswell AMICE, GPO engineer, and Vera Mabel, d. of Edward Foote Ward of Salhouse Hall, Norfolk, and niece of Gerald Charles Fanshawe (qv); b. 15 July 1914; adm. Sept. 1927 (R); left Apr. 1932; Trin. Coll. Camb., matric. 1932, BA 1935; RMA Woolwich 1935-7; RE 1937-42 (Maj.); m. 27 Sept. 1938 Anne Sylvia, d. of Sir John Charrington, coal merchant, of Crockham Hill, Kent; killed in action (Middle East) Oct. 1942; despatches (posthumous) June 1943.

Gilfrid Edward Baker-Cresswell was born at Edinburgh on the 15th of July 1914 the elder son of Henry Gilfred Baker-Cresswell AMICE, an engineer for the General Post Office, and Vera Mabel (nee Ward) Baker-Cresswell of Salthouse Hall, Norfolk, later of The Post House, Ellingham, Chathill in Northumberland. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1927 to April 1932 He won a O.W.W. Masonic Lodge Prize for Science (practical) in 1930. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps and was promoted to Lance Corporal in September 1930. He won the Long Distance Race at Putney in 1931 and the Long Distance Race on the 8th of March 1932 and won a number of other cups for running during his time at the school.
On leaving school he attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on the 30th of August 1934. He was admitted as a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge on the 1st of October 1934 where he read engineering and graduated with a BA in 1936. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 30th of August 1937 and to Captain on the 30th of August 1942.
He was married on the 27th of September 1938 to Anne Sylvia (nee Charrington) of Broad Oak End, Hertford. They had two children, Sally and Gilfred John, born on the 12th of December 1939. Shortly after he was married he was posted to Mauritius for garrison duty.
He was Mentioned in Despatches: - “In recognition of distinguished services in the Middle East during the period 1st May 1942 to 22nd October 1942”, which was announced by the War Office on the 24th of June 1943.
He is commemorated on a stone plaque in St Maurice’s Church, Ellingham and on the war memorial at Ellingham. He is also commemorated on the memorial at Trinity College, Cambridge.
He is buried at El Alamein War Cemetery Plot XI, Row E, Grave 1.

Calway, Frank Ferguson, son of Frank Hugh Ferguson Calway, silk throwster, of Duddlestone, Somerset, and Susan Dorothy, d. of Joseph B. Harcombe of Cape Town; b. 3 Feb. 1921; adm. Sept. 1934 (B); left July 1939; RN (Ord. Seaman); d. on active service 31 Aug. 1941.

Frank Ferguson Calway was born at Taunton, Somerset on the 3rd of February 1921 the only son of Frank Hugh Ferguson Calway, director of a silk mill, and Susie Dorothy (nee Harcombe) Calway of “Quoits Field”, Duddlestone in Somerset. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Busby’s from September 1934 to July 1939. He was a member of the 1st Cricket XI from 1937 to 1939 and was Captain in the latter year. He was a member of the 1st Football XI in 1938 and 1939, where he played as goalkeeper. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps, where he was promoted to Lance Corporal in September 1937 and later rose to the rank of Sergeant. He was appointed as Head of House in 1938 and was amember of the Debating Society where he was elected as President in 1938.
On leaving school he travelled to Canada on the 5th of August 1939 where he played cricket for a public schools side but following the outbreak of war, he returned home on board the SS Duchess of Atholl, landing at Liverpool on the 6th of October 1939. On his return he joined his father’s firm for a period of nine months and was one of the first members of the Corfe Home Guard. He played for the Taunton Cricket Club in 1940 and for the Y.M.C.A Football XI in 1939. He enlisted in the Royal Navy and was posted to HMS Quebec, the naval training establishment at Inverary in Argyll. He contracted a pulmonary abscess and died from pneumonia at Drymen Hill Hospital near Loch Lomond.
His funeral took place on the 4th of September 1941 in a service conducted by the Reverend T.L.T. Fisher. A guard of honour was provided by the Corfe Home Guard.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Corfe.
He is buried at St Nicholas’ Church, Corfe Grave 369.

Brackenbury, Christopher Charles (known at school as Christopher Charles Klein), son of Adrian Bernard Klein MBE, artist and inventor, of St John's Wood, and Angela Edith, d. of Admiral John William Brackenburv CB CMG RN; b. 2 Apr. 1917; adm. Jan. 1931 (R); left July 1934; RAFVR 1940-1 (PO); m. 1940 Rosemary, d. of Frank Struben of Pretoria, S. Africa; killed on active service May 1941.

Christopher Charles Buzz Klein was born at Hampstead, London on the 2nd of April 1917 the only son of Major Adrian Bernard Leopold Klein (later Cornwall-Clyne) MBE, FRPS, artist and inventor, and Angela Edith (nee Brackenbury later Cornwall-Clyne) Klein of 32, The Pryors, East Heath Road, Hampstead in London. He was educated at Westminster School, where he was known by the last name of Klein and was up Rigaud’s from January 1931 to July 1934. He later changed his surname to that of his mother’s maiden name.
He was married at Chelsea in 1940 to Rosemary Patricia (nee Struben).
On the outbreak of war he enlisted as an Aircraftman 2nd Class in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and rose to the rank of Leading Aircraftman where he trained as a pilot and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 23rd of November 1940, with seniority from the 14th of November 1940.
He was posted to No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School as a flying instructor.
On the 16th of May 1941, Christopher Brackenbury and his student, Leading Aircraftman Ronald Henry Morgan, took off in Tiger Moth Mk II T5712 for a training exercise. At the time he had accumulated a total of 353.25 solo flying hours of which 274.20 were on Tiger Moth aircraft.
During the flight the aircraft struck a balloon cable at Clifford Bridge Road near Walsgrave near Coventry and crashed into a field, killing both men.
His wife received the following letter dated the 20th of May 1941: - “Madam, I am commanded by the Air Council to express to you their great regret on learning that your husband, Pilot Officer Christopher Charles Brackenbury, Royal Air Force, lost his life as the result of an aircraft accident on 16th May, 1941.”
An inquiry into the accident concluded: - “No previous difficulties with the Coventry balloon barrage, the nearest site of which is three miles. The position of all balloons affecting this unit is well known to flying personnel who have continual reference to the situation. Error of judgement or mental preoccupation on part of pilot who was instructing at the time”
He is buried at St James’ Church, Anstey.

Bune, John Cuthbert, son of Frank Cuthbert Bune, barrister-at-law, of Beckenham, and Gladys, d. of Henry Collins of Bromley, Kent; b. 17 Apr. 1914; adm. Sept. 1927 (A); left July 1932; St Cath. Coll. Camb., matric. 1933, BA 1936; Roy. Fusiliers 1939, transf. Parachute Regt (Maj.); m. Hilda Dorothy, d. of H. W. Thompson of Sydney, NSW; killed in action at Arnhem 17 Sept. 1944.

John Cuthbert Bune was born at Beckenham, Kent on the 17th of April 1914 the eldest son of Frank Cuthbert Bune, a barrister at law, and Gladys (nee Collins) Bune of 14, Oakwood Avenue, Beckenham, Kent, later of Lucas Grange, Haywards Heath in Sussex. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from September 1927 to July 1932. He was a member of the 1st Cricket XI in 1932. He served as a Lance Corporal in the Officer Training Corps and achieved a School Certificate in December 1930. He then attended St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School. He matriculated for St Catherine’s College, Cambridge on the 2nd of November 1933 where he read English and Law and graduated with a BA on the 23rd of June 1936. He won a Half Blue for Swimming in 1936 and was also a member of the University Water Polo team when they played Oxford in 1936. He went on to study law and was called to the Bar in 1941.
He was married at St Clement Danes, Strand on the 25th of November 1939 to Hilda Dorothy (nee Thompson) of Barton-on-Sea in Hampshire. They had two daughters, Susan S. born in 1940 and Alexandra J. C., born on the 9th of September 1943.
He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 11th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) on the 2nd of September 1939 and rose to the rank of Major before transferring to the Parachute Regiment on the 18th of April 1944. By September 1944 he had been appointed as second in command of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment.
At 8pm on the 15th of September 1944 John Bune was called to an officer’s briefing to receive orders for the Battalion’s part in Operation Market Garden, an airborne operation in conjunction with land forces to secure a river crossing across the Lower River Rhine, which was due to begin just 36 hours later. All other personnel were briefed the following day.
On the morning of the 17th of September 1944, the Battalion moved to Barkston Heath airfield where they boarded transport aircraft and took off at 11.30am. They landed at Renkum Heath, to the west of the town of Arnhem, at between 2.03pm and 2.08pm and had assembled by 2.45pm with only three men missing. They moved off from the drop zone at 3.40pm. Twenty minutes later they arrived at a railway station where they were briefed by an officer of the Reconnaissance Corps that there were enemy troops further up the railway line to their east and tanks on the road to the north. Unable to get up the railway line, they set out up the Amsterdamseweg, by which time the enemy tanks had withdrawn. At 5pm R Company attacked strong enemy positions astride the road, inflicting heavy casualties among the enemy troops and forcing them back. The Company then advanced to the Wolfhezerweg junction, where they became heavily engaged with enemy tanks and infantry and were unable to disengage when the rest of the Battalion went around this obstacle. Contact with R Company was lost at 6pm.
At 7.30pm, John Bune was sent back to make contact with R Company, returning at 10pm with the second in command of the Company who reported that, although they had managed to disengage, forward progress was slow as half of his men had become casualties and were in need of evacuation. The Battalion Medical Officer was ordered to take all available jeeps to evacuate the wounded with John Bune joining this party for the return to R Company’s positions. Although the convoy of wounded later reached Oosterbeek and were delivered to the dressing station at the Hartenstein Hotel, John Bune’s group is believed to have run into an ambush in the vicinity of the Dreyenseweg during which he was killed. He was recorded as missing at 3am the following morning. His body was recovered and was buried alongside the Dreyenseweg but was later exhumed and moved to its present location.
The St Catharine’s Society Magazine wrote of him: -
“It has been said that soldiering was among the last professions that John Bune would have chosen, for by instinct he was independent and Bohemian, impatient of routine and of a systematic society; but once in arms he turned the circumstance to glorious account. For the first four and a half years of the war he was in the Royal Fusiliers, and reached the rank of Major. Then, fearing that the years of his training might go for nothing, he transferred and became, in April 1944, second in command of the 1st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment. And so to Arnhem. Bune came to S. Catharine's from Westminster, and gained his Half- Blue for swimming. Literature was, perhaps, his strongest interest, but, like his father, he turned to law, and in 1941 was called to the Bar. He leaves a widow and two daughters.”
He is commemorated on the war memorial at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
He is buried at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery Plot 27, Row B, Grave 6.

Bingham, Leslie Paget Birkett, son of Herbert Berkeley Fanshawe Bingham, of Hampton Wick, Middx, and Beatrice Mary, d. of William Henry Birkett of Exeter; b. 3 June 1913; adm. Sept. 1927 (R); left July 1932; Gas Light & Coke Co.; East Surrey Regt 1940-2 (Lieut.); wounded and p.o.w. MalayaJan. 1942; d. of wounds Singapore 26 Feb 1942; despatches (posth.) Aug. 1946.

Leslie Paget Birkett Bingham was born at Montreal, Canada on the 3rd of June 1913 the only son of Herbert Berkeley Fanshawe Bingham, an insurance official, and Beatrice Mary (nee Birkett) Bingham later of “Memphis”, Pharaoh’s Island, Sunbury in Middlesex. The family returned from Canada on board the SS Scandinavia and landed at Liverpool on the 26th of December 1916. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1927 to July 1932 after which he went to work for the Gas, Light & Coke Co Ltd.
Following the outbreak of war he attended an Officer Cadet training Unit before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the East Surrey Regiment on the 2nd of November 1940. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion of his Regiment based at Singapore where the Battalion became heavily engaged in the fighting which followed the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941. After suffering heavy casualties in the first few days of the fighting the Battalion was merged with the remnants of the 1st Battalion, Royal Leicestershire Regiment on the 20th of December 1941 to form the composite British Battalion. Leslie Bingham was appointed as the Carrier Officer for the new Battalion.
At 4am on the morning of the 10th of January 1942, the British Battalion received orders to fall back to the town of Labu, to the south of Kuala Lumpur where they arrived at 11pm that night. Before they could continue their retreat the Battalion was charged with blowing up the bridge there to impede the enemy advance.
Early on the morning of the 11th of January 1942, the Battalion set out to blow up the bridge but found that the approaches to it were mined and, when the first lorry in the column was destroyed by a mine, the column halted and Leslie Bingham volunteered to make a reconnaissance to see it was safe to proceed. While doing this his carrier was blown up and he was seriously wounded. Following a further reconnaissance the bridge was successfully destroyed at 4.30am.
He was admitted to the Alexandra Hospital, Singapore where he died from his wounds six weeks later and was buried in a slit trench in the hospital grounds by Padre Chambers. His body was later exhumed and reburied in its present location.
He was Mentioned in Despatches: - “In recognition of distinguished services in Malaya in 1942”, which was announced by the War Office on the 1st of August 1946.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Shepperton.
He is buried at Kranji War Cemetery Plot 11, Row A Grave 6.

Bird, Alan Curtis, brother of John Henry Benbow Bird (qv); b. 20 Jan. 1910; adm. Jan. 1924 (A); left Apr. 1928; Roy. Ulster Rifles 1939-45 (Maj.); MC 5 Apr. 1945; killed in action (Germany) 26 Apr. 1945.

Alan Curtis “Dicky” Bird was born at Richmond, Surrey on the 20th of January 1910 the third son of Sidney Arthur Bird OW, director of a public company, and Norah Agnes Sarah Jane (nee McClory) Bird of “Longfield”, Christchurch Road, East Sheen in Surrey, later of East Molesey in Surrey. He was christened at St Matthias’ Church, Richmond on the 9th of April 1910. He was educated at Westminster school where he was up Ashburnham from January 1924 to April 1928. He was a member of the 2nd Rowing VIII in 1927, where he rowed at No. 2. He was a member of the Colts Football XI in 1925 and 1926 and of the 1st Football XI, where he played at right back, in 1926, 1927 and 1928. The Elizabethan wrote the following on his 1927/28 season: - “Has shown more consistent good form than any other member of the team. We have scarcely seen him play a poor game. A relentless tackler, and a beautiful kick with either foot. He is always in the right place, and he should, we think develop into a great player. The side owes to him a very great deal of any success they may have had.”
He attended the 163rd Officer Cadet Training Unit (Artists Rifles) from where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Ulster Rifles on the 10th of November 1939. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion of his Regiment based at Lezennes in March 1940 where he joined D Company as a Platoon Commander. He was evacuated from Dunkirk. He was later appointed as the second in command of A Company.
On the 4th of June 1944, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles left their base at Waterlooville and proceeded to Southsea where they embarked on boats for the invasion of Normandy the following morning. They moored off Southsea that night and, after an uneventful crossing of the Channel, they landed on the beaches at noon on the 6th of June 1944. Following the death in action of Major John Richard St Leger Aldworth on the 10th of June Alan Bird was appointed to the command of D Company.
On the 30th of November 1944, the Battalion was ordered to make an attack on German positions between the villages of Blitterswijk and Helling. The attack began at 5am, with C Company leading the attack on the right and with D Company on the left. They were held up for a time by thick barbed wire entanglements which had been booby trapped with mines. These were quickly cleared by the Pioneer Platoon and the advance continued. At 5.45am the leading Platoon from C Company was advancing along the Wanssum road when it came under heavy enemy machine gun fire from an orchard on their left and from houses in Helling on their right, which proved to be more strongly held than had first been thought. Another Platoon was ordered forward but this also came under heavy fire and both Platoons were ordered to fall back while artillery and mortar fire was called on to bombard the enemy stronghold. C Company had suffered casualties of six men killed, with four wounded and twelve missing.
Meanwhile D Company, under the command of Alan Bird, began moving forward from Blitterswijk at 4.15am and passed through the enemy barbed wire at 5.45am. Their first objective, an enemy machine gun post, brought the leading Platoon under fire but, when they rushed forward, they found that the Germans had abandoned it, leaving a machine gun and a Panzerfaust behind them. The second Platoon also came under fire from an enemy position in some woods. They threw a grenade at it and rushed it but found the enemy position had also been abandoned. Alan Bird then ordered a third Platoon forward which advanced without opposition and took the Company’s first objective. The advance continued and the second objective, a wood to the north west of a windmill, was taken without casualties in spite of enemy fire. Two or three German machine gun positions were located and attacked with 2” mortars and PIATs before a frontal attack was made and these were all destroyed. The Germans then began falling back in the face of D Company’s attack but remained in a perimeter around Wanssum. Helling was also still strongly held. D Company remained in their new positions throughout the day from where they brought the enemy under sniper fire while the commanding officer of the Battalion was planning a second attack to take place that night. D Company remained in their positions until they were withdrawn to rest on the afternoon of the 2nd of December.
The attack began at 1am on the morning of the 1st of December 1944 in “brilliant” moonlight. B Company began the advance by passing through the enemy wire but quickly found themselves on flat, open ground and, with the bright moonlight, the Germans had no trouble in bringing them under heavy fire. D Company suffered the same fate as they joined the attack by crossing the Wanssum to Blitterswijk road and soon became pinned down and leading the Battalion commander to call off the attack.
For his actions during the attack on Wassum and Helling Alan Bird was awarded the Military Cross which was announced by the War Office on the 5th of April 1945. The recommendation for his award read as follows: -“On 1 Dec 1944 operations to mop up a pocket of enemy in the Wanssum area were started. In connection with these, D Coy, 2 RUR, commanded by Major A.C. Bird was ordered to attack and capture a strongly held enemy position between the villages of Blitterswijk and Helling. This position was in an area of high ground and commanded the approaches from the two villages. In front of the position ran a wire obstacle which was booby trapped. At 0500 hrs the leading platoon breached the wire but immediately came under heavy machine gun fire. Major Bird urged his Company through the gap and then dealt methodically with each enemy post. By his splendid example of coolness and determined leadership, he succeeded in establishing his Company on the objective and drove the enemy off. The enemy withdrew in disorder, leaving behind six Spandaus, six Bazookas, and a considerable amount of small arms ammunition and equipment. The enemy brought down intensive artillery, mortar and machine gun fire but Major Bird conducted the consolidation of the position without any regard for his own safety. By his drive and skilful leadership, Major Bird was largely responsible for the success of the attack on this position which was the key to the whole of the German pocket in the Wanssum area. During the following two days the objective was continuously shelled, mortared and machine gunned, and at night strong enemy patrols attempted to enter the position but were beaten off every time. During these two days, Major Bird was continually round his men encouraging them to stand firm in this exposed position to which it was not possible to approach in daylight without drawing heavy enemy fire. He never spared himself, and had no sleep until the enemy withdrew two days later. Throughout the operation Major Bird acted with great bravery and determination and his strong fighting spirit was an inspiration to all ranks.”
In April 1945, the Battalion was involved in the capture of Bremen. After the town had been cleared and the fighting had died down Alan Bird and other men from D Company were killed by the explosion of a sea mine which had been planted by the retreating Germans. They were buried in a meadow close to an inn later that evening but their bodies were later exhumed and moved to their present location.
The Battalion historian wrote of him: - “..... in the many attacks and actions he seemed to bear a charmed life. Wherever danger threatened or he was most needed, Dicky was always to be found, cheering and encouraging his men with no thought to spare himself. Dicky had seen the thing through from beginning to end. He had died in the hour of triumph, and has probably missed the disillusionment of post-war years. To his friends he will be a memory of a well known figure, pipe in mouth, up with the leading platoon working his Company forward, or the centre of a party, seated at the piano, playing the old tunes he loved so much.”
He is buried at Becklingen War Cemetery Plot 8, Row G, Grave 11.

Bompas, Eric Ainsley, son of Cecil Henry Bompas (qv); b. 22 Sept. 1915; adm. Sept. 1929 (G); left Dec. 1933; a clerk in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank; 1st Mountain Battery Hong Kong and Singapore RA 1940-1, despatches (posth.) Apr. 1946; killed in action on reconnaissance behind Japanese lines Dec. 1941.

Eric Ainsley Bompas was born at Calcutta, India on the 22nd of September 1915 the younger son of Cecil Henry Bompas OW, Indian Civil Service, and his second wife, Nita Frances (nee Goode) Bompas of 26, West End Avenue, Pinner in Middlesex, later of Rookery Lane, Broughton in Hampshire. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Grant’s from September 1929 to December 1933. He boxed for the school in 1933. He was a member of the 2nd and of the 1st Football XIs in 1933 and was a member of the 2nd Cricket XI in the same year. He was appointed as a School Monitor in 1933. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps and was promoted to Sergeant in September 1933.
On the 24th of October 1936 he boarded the RMS Lancastria at Liverpool and sailed to New York where he joined the staff of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank as a clerk. After a brief return to London in November 1937 he travelled to Hong Kong to work for a branch of the bank in the colony.
He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on the 12th of February 1940 and was attached to the 1st Mountain Battery, 1st (Hong Kong) Regiment, Hong Kong and Singapore Artillery.
At 10am on the 7th of December 1941 the 1st (Hong Kong) Regiment received orders to man its war stations following the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong earlier in the day. The 1st Mountain Battery was deployed to the New Territories on the mainland and established its Headquarters at the north end of Waterloo Road. The 1st Mountain Battery, which consisted of four 3.9 inch howitzers based at Customs Pass, was in support of the 5/9th Rajput Regiment. They came into action on the 9th of December when they were called upon to bring fire on a number of small groups of enemy infantry which were advancing to their front. The following the day the defenders began to fall back under the enemy attacks and on the morning of the 11th of December the 2nd Mountain Battery and the 25th Medium Battery were ordered to withdrawn to Hong Kong island. On the morning of the 12th of December 1941, Eric Bompas joined the Battery and immediately went to the Battery observation post near Devils Peak. During the evening an enemy attack was driven off by the Rajputs with supporting artillery fire and that night the order was given to evacuate Devils Peak and fall back to the island. The Regiment had suffered five casualties during the fighting but had lost a large amount of ammunition and equipment.
On the night of the 18th of December 1941 the Japanese began landing on the north shore of Hong Kong Island. That night Eric Bompas and his men were manning a howitzer at a position on a hillside above Island Road near San Wan Fort. The gunners of No. 1 Section, 5th Battery, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force, who were stationed at the fort itself, had been caught by surprise by the Japanese who had killed their sentries and then attacked the fort. Those who surrendered were executed with bayonets by their captors three hours after capitulating.
Their commanding officer, Captain Bosanquet, and a few of his men fell back from their positions and withdrew down the slope to Island Road where they met Eric Bompas and two of his men who had escaped when their gun position had also been overrun. This small group then moved down Island Road where they gathered more stragglers from their Regiment and spent the night deployed along Island Road in an attempt to stop the Japanese advancing southwards towards Tai Tam Gap.
By the morning of the following day all that stood in the way of the Japanese advance was two 3.7 inch howitzers of the 1st (Hong Kong) Regiment, Hong Kong and Singapore Artillery and a small number of troops from the Hong Volunteer Defence Force. Eric Bompas was placed in command of the two 3.7 inch howitzers based on a knoll at Gauge Basin. At 5.30am Captain Penn arrived with a force of around thirty men which he deployed around the gun facing Sanatorium Gap, from where the Japanese advance was expected. Later in the morning Captain Penn saw the Japanese advancing along a ridgeline towards Jardine’s Lookout where they were in pursuit of the Allied defenders there who were falling back. At 9.30am the Japanese turned their attentions to the position at Gauge Basin and about 25 to 30 of them brought the area under small arms fire from their position on another knoll, some 400 yards to the rear. The howitzer itself began to come under mortar fire at the same time. During this exchange of fire and having suffered a number of casualties among his gunners, Eric Bompas ordered his men to manhandle their guns into a position to face the enemy threat and brought the Japanese troops under fire over open sights. The Japanese ceased firing at 10.30am. At 11am, with Allied troops falling back around, them the Gauge Basin guns began firing rapidly in anticipation of an order to withdraw and at about the same time a message arrived saying that he and his men were to fall back to new positions at Stanley. The two guns at Gauge Basin were spiked and abandoned.
On the 21st of December 1941, a British counterattack was planned in an attempt to reunite the Eastern and Western Brigades which had been separated by the Japanese advance. The remaining artillery was ordered to fire in support of the attacks on Red Hill and Bridge Hill. When the attack began, the leading Bren gun carriers were approaching the driveway to “Erinsville”, a villa near Turtle Cove, when they came under heavy fire from Red Hill on their right flank. When one of the men in the leading carrier was killed the remaining carriers ground to a halt where the men abandoned them and took cover. The enemy fire was coming from an abandoned British gun position on Red Hill and a party of infantry was assembled under the command of Eric Bompas and Lieutenant William S. Fry, Royal Rifles of Canada, with orders to clear the crest of Red Hill. The patrol moved down the hillside towards “Erinsville” before beginning to move up hill towards the crest of Red Hill with the support of covering fire from Allied machine guns. As they neared the top of the hill both Fry and Eric Bompas were killed. The fighting in the area died down at about 1pm.
He was Mentioned in Despatches: -“In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the defence of Hong Kong in 1941”, which was announced by the War Office on the 4th of April 1946.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Broughton.
He is buried at Stanley Military Cemetery Plot 6, Row C, Grave 11.