For those of you who have been to The Westwood Club and seen the Memorial Board on the entrance and wondered about the names that are on there, here is a brief summary of those that have been researched by the History Group. See the image of the board in the pictures.
Pilot Officer J.D. Gordon d: 8 June 1942 aged 27
P/O John Douglas Gordon was born c1915 son of John Charles Lee Gordon and Lily Lavinia Gordon. He has a grave in St Johns churchyard, where he is buried with other members of his family. He is part of the Lee Gordon family, who have well known associations with the area.
P/O Gordon was part of 165 Squadron based at Ayr in Scotland at the time of his death and was flying Spitfire fighters. The image included here is of one of 165 Squadron Spitfires at Gravesend, an airfield that they moved to after being based in Ayr.
On the evening of the accident he was flying with a colleague on a training flight on air drill and cloud flying. The squadron Operations Record Book notes that he commenced a spiral dive through cloud from around 8,000ft. The speed of descent became so rapid that the other pilot pulled out of the dive and he did not see P/O Gordon again. P/O Gordon crashed and was killed instantly. First reports seemed to indicate that the aircraft disintegrated when nearing the ground. The Record Book continues ‘By this unfortunate accident … the Squadron has lost a very able and popular officer and his loss is mourned by all personnel’.
P/O Gordons memorial in St Johns Churchyard, Westwood Heath
Spitfires of 165 Squadron at Gravesend
Trooper T. Mills d: 14 April 1943 aged 29
Craftsman Thomas Mills R.E.M.E. is buried in the churchyard of St Johns. His headstone notes that he ‘accidentally drowned at Newbury, Berkshire’, but so far no details have been unearthed about the circumstances of this death. It is also noteworthy that it is a normal headstone and not one of the standard Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstones.
The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is the professional engineering branch of the army and it provides engineering support and maintains and repairs the Army’s equipment. Established in October 1942 to meet the technological challenges and demands of the mechanised form of warfare that World War II came to be.
Two images of REME personnel at work repairing and recovering broken and damaged equipment are included.
Trooper Mills memorial in St Johns Churchyard Westwood Heath
Trooper Sydney Lawrance d: 18 April 1943 aged 24 years
Trooper Sydney Lawrance is mentioned on a memorial that is in the Westwood Heath Club that is shown here. The memorial was presented by Mr & Mrs L Lawrance in 1946. From the available records they were Sydney’s parents and lived on Westwood Heath Road not far from the club.
Tpr Lawrance was part of the 3rd Kings Own Hussars (KOH) and served in the North African campaign. The Curator of the Queens Royal Hussars Museum gave some background to the regiment’s activities during the time immediately before his death:
‘The 3rd KOH suffered horrendous casualties at El Alamein - 21 officers and 98 other ranks killed wounded or missing. The Regiment took time to recover and in April 1943 this process was still very much underway. There is no specific mention of the death of Tpr Lawrance on 18th April which makes me suspect that he either died of wounds received at Alamein or from a later tragedy which occurred on 4th February 1943. On this day, a party of men from the 3rd were involved in a train crash, 5 officers and 2 men were killed and a further 4 injured.’
El Alamein was the turning point of the North African campaign and the joint German and Italian armies were pushed back from Egypt to Tunisia along the north coast of Africa. It has been said that this was the turning point of World War II: Up to that point the German forces had not been defeated, after then they would not win another significant battle.
Following the battle, the regiment were sent to Lebanon to rest and recuperate. It is here that Tpr Lawrance is buried, in Sidon Military Cemetery, shown in the pictures. As the Curator goes on to point out:
‘It is easy to forget that not all those who died did so in action – many fell victim to accidents or illness whilst on active service. Their loss is as poignant whether they fell in battle or their death is due to the fact that they were there serving their country at a hazardous time in a dangerous place.’
Trooper Lawrences memorial is in the Sidon Military Cemetary in Lebanon
Picture of the funeral procession following the train crash
One of the other names which has great significance for the Westwood Club is F. Dash, secretary of the club from 1947.
Sergeant Frederick Harry Dash d: 31 Oct 1961 aged 52
F.H. Dash served in the British Expeditionary Force in France, before the evacuation at Dunkirk. He was transferred to North Africa where he served in 4th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment. He was encircled in Tobruk and eventually captured, though he was awarded the Military Medal for repairing two knocked out tanks under enemy fire during this time.
He spent time in Prisoner of War camps in Italy and Germany and was repatriated at the end of the war, where he took up normal life running the local Post Office and, of course, helping to run the Westwood Club.
REME engineers recovering a tank
REME engineer at work
Sergeant Dash courtesy of the family
Military Medal
Images have been included from various sources: Imperial War Museum, Queens Royal Hussars Museum, Commonwealth War Grave Commission and Ian Harrop, WHHG.