There are three servicemen remembered on the East Stour Church Memorial plaque - Ronald Bowring, Geoffrey Martin and Richard Chinn - their stories, researched by Lynda Grange of Gillingham Local History Society, are below:
BOWRING Ronald James
2738672 Guardsman Ronald James Bowring, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards died 14 August 1944.
Ronald James Bowring was born on 14 May 1925 at Weymouth, Dorset. He was the third child of Reuben and Sarah Bowring and had an elder sister and brother.
In 1939 Ronald was living with his family at the Police Station, East Stour where his father was a police constable. Before military service Ronald was employed at Messrs. Hine Bros. of Gillingham.
Ronald probably enlisted in the Welsh Guards in 1943 when he was 18 and his battalion went to France between 18 and 29 June 1944 where they took part in the Normandy campaign.
He was killed on 14 August 1944 aged 19. According to a newspaper report at the time of his death Ronald was shot whilst on patrol. He is buried at St Charles de Percy War Cemetery south-west of Caen in the bocage area of Calvados.
Ronald is remembered on the war memorial plaques of East Stour Church and Village Hall.
Entry posted 2 August 2024 (LG)
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CHINN Richard
1586498 SGT. Richard Thomas Chinn, 138 Squadron RAF Volunteer Reserve died 20 September 1943.
Richard was born on 31 May 1923 at Frog Hole Farm, Cann, Shaftesbury, the younger son of Edwin and Ada Chinn. In 1939 the family was living in Green Lane, Stour Row, both Richard and his elder brother Austin were employed as motor mechanics and they had two younger sisters.
It isn’t known when Richard joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve, but his squadron was re-formed in 1941 and was the first squadron of the RAF Special Duty Service to provide air transport to support the resistance movement in territories controlled by the Axis.
In March 1942 it moved to Tempsford in Bedfordshire and planes of the squadron dropped agents and supplies to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and Special Operations Executive (SOE). On 20 September 1943, when he died aged 20, Richard was an air gunner on Halifax II BB317 when it ditched into the sea off Petten on the north coast of the Holland due to flak damage. The flight was returning from a Special Operation in the Netherlands and four of the crew survived and were taken prisoner.
Richard is buried at Bergen General Cemetery which is south of Petten (below)
He is also remembered on the memorial plaques of East Stour Church and the Village Hall.
Entry posted 2 August 2024 (LG)
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MARTIN Geoffrey
14508992 Gunner Geoffrey George Martin, Royal Artillery 13 Medium Regiment died10 September 1944.
Geoffrey George Smith was born on 9 January 1910 at Gillingham and was the son of Bertram and Ann Martin. He had an older sister and brother.
In 1911 the family were living in Gillingham where Geoffrey’s father was caretaker of the Constitutional Club. However, Geoffrey’s father Bertram died in 1913 when Geoffrey was only three years old, and his mother Ann died in 1918 when he was eight.
In 1921 Geoffrey was living with his aunt Aralinda and uncle George Fowles and their seven children at the Post Office, East Stour. His elder sister and brother were boarding with two other families at Stour Provost. Geoffrey was still living at East Stour with his aunt and uncle in 1939 and was employed as a mason. He played football for the village team (Stour United) and sang in the church four-part choir - sitting in the pew below the wooden cross hanging in the nave.
It isn’t known when Geoffrey enlisted but his battalion was formed in 1943, initially serving in
Kent before training in Northumberland for the invasion of France in June 1944. By September 1944 Allied troops were moving across the Netherlands at the start of Operation Market Garden and it is likely that Geoffrey was with his regiment heading towards the bridge at Nijmegen when he died on 10 September 1944 aged 34.
He is remembered on the East Stour Church war memorial plaque, the Village Hall plaque and the Groesbeek Memorial, Bergen Dal, Gelderland, Netherlands.
Entry posted 2 August 2024 (LG) (updated 8 September 2024 (DJL))
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