For Great Britain and its Dominions, the Second World War officially began at 11am on the morning of Sunday 3^rd September 1939, and many of us will be familiar with Prime Minister Chamberlain’s words broadcast from the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street, even though we may not have been alive at the time.

Long before that however, the war clouds had begun to gather and preparations of one sort or another had been laid across the land. Many a young man of fighting age had an inkling of what might be about to unfold and made the decision to be ready, if and when the call to arms came. This was especially true of those with aspirations to take the fight to the enemy in the skies, rather than on land or on the sea. In this respect former pupils of Wrekin College were no exception.

During the course of the war several hundred Old Wrekinians [OW] fought for their country in virtually every theatre of war both on land, at sea and in the air. Fortunately, the majority returned home to their families in 1945/46 changed forever by the sights and sounds of war and by what they had endured. Sadly, one hundred and three OWs paid the ultimate sacrifice and did not return. They now either rest in a corner of a foreign field, a British country churchyard or in the ocean depths: a quarter of the one hundred plus have no known grave.

Of the dead, fifty-four served in the Army; thirty-four in the Air Force; eight in the Royal Navy; four in the Merchant Navy; one in the Marines and finally two who were civilian casualties. The Royal Air Force Memorial at Runnymede in Surrey list the names of eight OWs who have no known grave. The Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill in the City of London lists a further four and the Rangoon Memorial in Myanmar lists three. In a few instances those with known graves lie alongside other OWs, whom they may have known either during their time at Wrekin or in their period of military service. The Knightsbridge War Cemetery in Libya contains the remains of three OWs; Minturno War Cemetery in Italy also contains the remains of three. Six other cemeteries contain the bodies of two a piece, including Birmingham (Lodge Hill) Cemetery.

The number includes two brothers; three of “The Few”, pilots who fought over the skies of south-eastern England in the 'Battle of Britain'. Aircrew who served with Bomber Command undertaking some of the most hazardous night-time operations over enemy occupied Europe. Those who were in the BEF and the retreat to Dunkirk; those who fought in the 'Battle of the Atlantic'. Those who fought in the deserts of North Africa and who patrolled the Mediterranean and on into Italy; those who fought in the Far East and died in Japanese POW camps.

One whose death earlier in the day, which had it not occurred when it did, would in all probability have been brutally murdered by the SS, in what later became a recognised War Crime, that saw his fellow officers and men executed after their surrender.

And finally, the most highly decorated of them all, who as a member of the Special Operations Executive [SOE] trained spies and secret agents in England, conducted espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance, fighting alongside the French Resistance and Free French forces in enemy occupied territory undertaking many daring missions.

The youngest OW to fall was eighteen years old and the oldest forty-four. The highest ranking was a Lieutenant-Colonel on his way to assist Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Yalta Conference when the aircraft in which he was travelling crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.

The MOD is currently in the process of transferring circa 9.3 million Service records to The National Archives with the transfer expected to complete in 2027. Most of this information will be digitised and made available for public release. Included within this number are those who fought and died in the Second World War. In time it is hoped that the release of this additional information will add to our knowledge of the OW's who lost their lives.

The following is a brief insight into the loss of the one hundred and three Old Wrekinians who did not return.

The research for these life stories was sourced from information held by the following institutions and organisations.

Aviation Safety Network [Flight Safety Foundation]
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Library & Archives Canada
The British Newspaper Archive
The General Register Office
The Imperial War Museum
The International Committee of the Red Cross
The National Archives
The National Archives of Australia
The National Army Museum
The Royal Air Force Museum
The Royal British Legion
UK Ministry of Defence
Wrekin College Archives

Please email propatria@wrekincollege.com if you have any further information, or indeed photographs, of the fallen that will add to our knowledge.

Jeremy Elsworth
(Windsor.1970-75)

N.B. The 1947 collation of OW names & initials of those who fell between 1939-46 in some cases do not match the names & initials under which they served their country, and by which they are remembered by the CWGC across the world.

One OW remained ‘forgotten’ for over seventy years: M.L. Glenton-Wright, “re-discovered” in 2019, will hopefully be added to the school memorial in due course.

Click on the year to read their stories

1939/40   1941   1942   1943   1944   1945/46

Appendices

To Download a complete set of OW stories for WW2 click here