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Last Resting Places
our grave adoption programme
by Peter Saunders
FEBRUARY 2008 REPORT
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“Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sun light on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.”
“When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die.” |
My first column of the New Year has to report the sad passing of another of our ‘heroes’. Group Captain Dudley Honor,
who has died aged 94, flew during the Battle of France and as a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain before going to the Middle East; shot down in the latter stages
of the German invasion of Crete, he spent six days in the mountains before reaching the coast where he was picked up by a flying boat.
Dudley Sandry Garton Honor was born, to British parents, on September 5th 1913 at Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
where he was educated.
He was brought up speaking better Spanish than English. He joined the RAF on a short service commission in July 1937 and after training as a pilot
joined 88 Squadron at Boscombe Down. As the Battle of Britain opened in July 1940 Fighter Command was short of pilots and Honor volunteered to fly Hurricanes.
With no previous exp-erience as a fighter pilot, he was sent to 145 Squadron. Off Scotland he shared in the destruction of an Arado floatplane but after his
squadron was transferred to the south he was forced to crash land in Sussex after a running battle with a Messerschmitt Bf 109. His Hurr-icane was a write-off.
After a spell on night-fighting duties he was sent to the Middle East. His story goes on but I’ll save it for another time. He died on 26 December 2007
in Devon where he lived but I do not know where in Devon. If any member has the knowledge please let me know. He is survived by his wife.
You may recall I sang the praises of Ken & Diane Lodge and the stirring work they had put in on ‘Billy Fiske’s’
grave in the Boxgrove Priory in Surrey. Well it has all been to no avail as the ‘bureacrats’ of the Priory in the shape of the
Reverend Ian Forrester contacted Ken & Diane and instructed them to remove the artificial decorations they had placed around the grave. This incensed Ken so much
that quite rightly he gave up tending the grave completely and contacted Bill and myself. The ‘Pen’ of Bill Bond then soon
got to work and a suitable letter was despatched to the Reverend Forrester asking for an explanation, after all the grave had been there since ‘Billy’ died of
shock and injuries the day after he crashed in August 1940! It would appear that under the Churchyard Chancellor’s Regulations the use of ‘plastic’ is forbidden
in the churchyard of Saints Mary and Blaise in Boxgrove, Surrey. Not only that but the ‘Old Comrade’s’ of 601 Squadron and one who actually flew with ‘Billy’,
also dislike plastic! Bill has yet to reply, but I would want to know why it has taken so long for his so-called ‘friends’ to make their feelings known?
The Reverend finished up by saying that there is a memorial window being commissioned for installation in the spring of this year. In the meantime the grass
around the grave is being re-turfed.
Anyone interested in taking over from Ken & Diane? Whilst on the subject of ‘Billy Fiske’, my good friend and ‘mentor’
Ray Crampin has given me a cigarette card featuring ‘Billy’ in a series by Churchmans Cigarettes in their Kings of Speed series.
Apparently ‘Billy’ was an exceptional sports-man and in particular a brilliant tobogganist who in 1938 had many outstanding successes. He broke the record for the
Cresta Run from Top on February 7th when winning the Morgan Cup, his time of 56.7 seconds beating his own record, established in 1936, by 2/10 sec.
Two years later he won the Cresta Run Grand National. His third run of 57 secs. Was the fastest time ever made in this gruelling contest since its inception
50 years ago. Fiske also won the Speed Cup (beating his own time in this event by 9 7/10ths sec.) and the Beatrice Cartwright Cup. (Note: These facts
are taken from the back of the cigarette card). If anyone is interested in the hobby of collecting cigarette cards then please contact Ray Crampin
through me on the usual number. I have at last received an offer of ‘care’ for the three graves in Suffolk and thanks to Steve Dodds
for volunteering. He also has agreed to look in on F/Lt. Rhodes-Moorhouse for me as well, well done Steve.
Thanks also go to Dr. Margaret Clotworthy for taking on the grave of Sgt. R.H.W. Taylor
in Hampstead Cemetery. I also have to thank Josie Aldridge of Bucks, who is now tending
the grave of Sgt. B.E.P. Whall in Amersham Cemetery.
None of the other graves mentioned in the last Scramble have received any offers.
So I am still looking for help in Exeter, Netherbury, Dorset, Dorch-ester, Cornwall, Cheshire and Newbury.
By the time this issue is printed and delivered I should be in Phoenix, Arizona visiting family for a holiday. I’ll be home on 24th February, somewhat ‘jet-lagged’.
Safe landings - Peter Saunders
REMEMBRANCE
“Sixty years on, but where have they gone?
As memories come to us now that still linger on.
We give thanks for all those years of peace,
And pray that in time all wars will cease.
For those who gave their lives to save us then,
May we never forget our debt to them.
And today, may each of us in our own way,
Look to the future with Faith and Hope and say;
Now and forever we shall always remember them
And then, as with the passing of the years,
We try to hide the sorrow and the tears,
And with our faces changing and growing lined,
We will always try to keep in mind,
Those who did not return, like me and you,
Or lived to see their dreams come true.
The pains that we suffer may be the sign of age,
But having lived our span on this world’s stage,
If GOD should give us that extra time to play’
Let us give HIM our thanks, for each and every day.
© The Battle of Britain
Historical Society 2006
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Their names will be
remembered till eternity
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