Listed below are servicemen associated with Bourton who gave their lives during the Second World War.
Research undertaken by Lynda Grange, member of Gillingham Local History Society.
If you have anything to add or amend to these stories, please contact the website manager at office@gillinghammuseum.co.uk
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CANDY Ernest
149523 Pilot Officer Ernest Candy, 90 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve died 14 July 1943
Ernest was born in 1911 in Portsmouth to Julia and Edgar Candy. His father Edgar was serving as a quartermaster sergeant in the Royal Marines and continued to serve throughout WWI. The family later returned to Dorset where parents Edgar and Julia had both been born and in 1922 the family lived at High Street, Bourton although Ernest’s father Edgar was absent as he was then serving as a coastguard in the Royal Navy.
Ernest married Isabel Pansy Clark on 1 September 1934 at St Saviour’s Church, Bath and a newspaper report of their wedding indicated that the couple intended making their home in London. In 1939 they were living at 87 Ranelagh Road, Westminster, London SW1 but by September that year while Ernest was still living in London and employed as a hotel porter Isabel had returned to Bath and was employed as a waitress. She may have left London for safety reasons at the outbreak of WWII.
It isn’t known when Ernest joined the RAF, but he was serving as a Pilot Officer in Stirling
Bomber EE873-WP-D, a four-engine heavy bomber, along with six fellow airmen when their plane crashed at Rotem, Limburg, Belgium on 14 July 1943. All the men were killed and initially buried at St Trond, Brusthem which is east of Brussels towards Maastricht. They were re-buried on 21 March 1947 at Heverlee CWG Cemetery at Leuven, Belgium which was established in 1946 for casualties of WWII.
Isabel was still living in Bath at the time of Ernest’s death and died in Cheltenham in 1989.
Ernest is remembered on Bourton War Memorial.
Entry posted 2 August 2024
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HARRIS Albert Andrew William
110951 Pilot Officer Albert Andrew William Harris, RAF Volunteer Reserve, died in Scotland 15 January 1942.
Albert Andrew William Harris, known as William, was born on 13 August 1921, the only son of Andrew and Muriel Harris of Bourton. In September 1939 Albert was still at school and living with his parents Andrew, a bricklayer, and Muriel, his older sister Hazel and younger sister Mary at Brickyard Lane, Bourton.
It isn’t known when William joined the RAF but at the time of his death he was based at East Fortune, East Lothian with 60 Operational Training Unit which specialised in training pilots in night flying after their initial training. Unsurprisingly, relatively inexperienced aircrew flying in high-performance, war-weary aircraft suffered high accident rates. There were high risks associated with the types of training undertaken at East Fortune with night fighter training involving extensive flying during the blackout and coastal-strike training involving extensive low-level flying, which also carried the attendant risk of accidents with insufficient altitude to bail out in the event of mechanical failure. As a result, there were many serious accidents involving aircraft operating from East Fortune.
William and his fellow crew member were killed at North Berwick Law, East Lothian flying a
Defiant 1 N3422. The crash was caused by a high- speed stall during an air combat sortie. Two other men also failed to return on the same day and were never found, it was presumed that they had crashed into the Firth of Forth.
William was buried at Bourton Cemetery on 20 January 1942 and is remembered on the Bourton War Memorial.
Entry posted 2 August 2024 (LG)
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HIGGINS John Joseph
5735178 Private John Joseph Higgins, 7th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders died on 7 November 1944.
John was the elder son of John and Gladys Higgins and born in West Ham, London in 1923. His father was a Londoner, and his parents probably met when his mother, who was born in Mere, was employed at St Leonard’s workhouse in Shoreditch, London in 1921.
The family were still living in London when John’s younger brother Peter was born in 1928, and his father may have been serving in the army. By 1939 the family were living in Shaftesbury Road, Bourton and John’s father was employed as a roadman.
John’s military record isn’t available and so his date of enlistment isn’t known. The 7th battalion Seaforth Highlanders was initially a territorial one serving in UK until it deployed to Normandy on 16 June 1944 for the north west Europe campaign. By the end of that month, they had reached Cheux between Bayeux and Caen, and reached Belgium by September and the Netherlands by November where was killed in action on 7 November 1944.
It is unusual that John was serving with a Scottish Regiment which traditionally recruited in the north of Scotland but as the army moved east towards Germany in 1944 and experienced casualties it is possible that he was deployed from another regiment. He was re-buried at Mierlo Cemetery, Noor Brabant, Netherlands on 6 November 1945.
John is remembered on Bourton War Memorial and the Scottish National War Memorial.
Entry posted 2 August 2024 (LG)
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TRIM Frederick Roland
Private WX969 Frederick Roland Trim, A I F 2/11 Battalion Australian Infantry was killed in action 26 May 1941.
Roland was born on 21 August 1905 at Hardway, Brewham, Somerset, the second son of Frederick and Mary Trim. In 1911 the family lived at Penselwood and Roland had older and younger brothers and a younger sister. By 1921 the family had moved to Midney House, Bourton and the census shows that Roland and his younger brother were helping their father with agricultural work on his smallholding.
On 29 March 1933 Roland aged 27 sailed from Southampton to Freemantle on the ship Hobsons Bay giving his occupation as farming. Six years later 2/11 Battalion Australian Army was raised at Northam, Western Australia on 13 October 1939. Roland enlisted there on 15 November 1939 when this photograph was taken. His army record shows that he had been employed as a labourer.
After initial training at Northam the battalion moved to New South Wales before returning west and embarking for North Africa early in 1940 where Australian forces formed an integral part of the Commonwealth forces there. By May 1940 Roland was serving at Gaza Ridge where he injured his leg and after recovering he was transferred to the 19th Infantry Battalion before returning to 2/11 Battalion in Egypt. On 10 April 1941 Roland embarked for service on the mainland of Greece where the Australian forces joined with British and Greek forces but failed to prevent the German invasion.
After assisting with the evacuation of Greek soldiers most of the Australian forces returned to Egypt but the 19th Brigade and two infantry battalions went to Crete to provide defences against a German invasion of the island. They were initially successful in holding positions when German paratroopers landed on 20 May but gradually forced to retreat. After several key airfields were lost the Allies evacuated the island's garrison and approximately 3,000 Australians who could not be evacuated were taken prisoner. Roland’s army record shows that he was initially thought to be a prisoner before it was confirmed that he was killed in action on 26 May 1941 and buried at Paravola, Crete on 31 May 1941. A German record card noting Roland’s name, number, battalion and date of death is with his army record in the Australian archives.
Roland is remembered on Bourton War Memorial, the memorial at Phaleron War Cemetery in Athens and on the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia.
Entry posted 2 August 2024 (LG)
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