Remembering John Garfield Jeffrey of Devoran and Operation Market Garden 19 September 1944 75 years On

 

Second World War names added round the back section of Devoran war memorial, above the WW2 names.

J. G. Jeffery

Flight Sergeant John Garfield Jeffery, 1601089 Air Bomber, 190 squadron, RAFVR, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died aged 22 on 19 September 1944.

The other half of John G. Jeffery’s Short Stirling crew and his Squadron Leader’s crew from two planes lost from 190 Squadron lost on 19 September 1944 are buried 40 kms away at Mierlo Cemetery near Eindhoven, Netherlands. Image : CWGC website

He is buried with other crew members in Grave reference Protestant Section collective grave 1-4, St. Michielsgestel Roman Catholic and Protestant Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

J Garfield Jeffery (right) and other RAF crew graves (Image: CWGC) ST. MICHIELSGESTEL ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT CEMETERY, Holland

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2766492/jeffery,-john-garfield/

and crew

https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/results/?cemetery=ST.%20MICHIELSGESTEL%20ROMAN%20CATHOLIC%20AND%20PROTESTANT%20CEMETERY
There are 5 other related graves from the exact same date in this cemetery either of Jeffery’s air crew (Navigator, Pilot, Air gunner and Air bomber John G. Jeffery) or Army Glider regiment staff. This may have been half of an entire air crew of 8 or 9 carried on a 190 Squadron Short Stirling Mark. IV aircraft when engaged in glider towing or supply drops during ‘Operation Market Garden’ and the Battle of Arnhem.
11 to 12 aircraft and 38 men were lost by 190 Squadron of No. 38 Group RAF during the 17 to 23 September 1944 operations.
Previously Jeffery’s 190 Squadron had been involved in supply and personnel drops as part of Special Operations Executive SOE missions supporting the French Resistance around D-Day June 1944, as well as dropping paratroops and glider troops and supplies as part of the D-Day landings.
He is listed on the CWGC website as the son of Lewis John Jeffery (a railway platelayer) and Florence Lillian Jeffery (nee Ferris) of Perranwell, Cornwall.

Tony Dyson’s 2007 research garnered information from Aubrey Ferris of Market Street, Devoran who was a cousin of Garfield Jeffery:
“Garfield was born and lived at No 1 Carnon Cottages on the Bissoe Road. He attended Perranwell School and then Falmouth Grammar School. He then passed into the Civil Service and worked in the Ministry of Labour. Having joined the RAFVR Garfield trained as a Bomb-Aimer and joined 190 Squadron flying in Stirling Bombers. Stirlings were used for towing the Horsa Gliders that carried troops and equipment to the Arnhem area as part of Operation Market Garden (featured in the film A Bridge Too Far). On the second day after the initial drop at Arnhem, Garfield Jeffery was on a resupply mission (his first mission over enemy territory) when shot down by anti-aircraft fire.”

Remembering John Garfield Jeffrey  and the men of the Arnhem battles “Operation Market Garden”  75 years on September 1944 / 2019

Blog posted by Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial Project

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Charles Brabyn of Point Devoran and the sinking of the HMS Courageous 17 September 1939 WW2 80 years on

 

Charles Brabyn (photograph c/o Brabyn relatives collected by Tony Dyson in his 2007 research)

The first casualty of the Second World War in Devoran was a First World War veteran sailor, shipwright Charles Brabyn of Point , Devoran who died on HMS Courageous when it was torpedoed on the 7th September 1939 80 years ago.

Brabyn sank on HMS Courageous, on 17 September 1939 with over 500 others, the first British warship to be lost during the Second World War.

Many like Charles Brabyn of the crew were from the West Country, including many from the Royal Naval Barracks at Keyham, Devonport. Many like Brabyn are remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Read more on our 75th anniversary post and the Devoran WW2 section of our website

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/charles-brabyn-of-devoran-and-the-sinking-of-hms-courageous-1939/

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/devoran-second-world-war-casualties-a-to-r/

Royal Navy / IWM source picture of Courageous sinking, 17 September 1939.

Charles Brabyn’s name on the Plymouth Naval Memorial (Image: Mark Norris, 2013)

A sailor stands forever watch over some of the panels of names on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. Image: Mark Norris, 2013

Remembering Charles Brabyn and family, the men of the HMS Courageous and their families 80 years on 17 September 1939 / 2019. 

Blog posted 17 September 2019 by Mark Norris, the Devoran War Memorial Project blog.

100 years old today, Devoran War Memorial Recreation Ground was opened 12 September 1919

Devoran school headmaster W.R. Cock at the opening ceremony 12 September 1919

Today the 12 September 2019 is the 100th anniversary of the War Memorial Recreation Ground, next to the old Devoran School, being given to the people of Devoran.

Appropriately the occasion is being marked  today from 2pm to 3pm in the afternoon by  Feock Parish Council and the Devoran Pre School planting a centenary tree. Visitors and villagers welcome! 

https://www.facebook.com/events/2496719643742107/

Dedication stone of the Devoran War memorial ground.

The old  stone plaque reads:

Devoran Recreation Ground
This land was given to Feock Parish Council by Viscount Clifton [Clifden]  as a war memorial to the men of Devoran to be used for recreation and enjoyment of the people of Devoran for all times, 12 September 1919 

You can read more about this at:

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2013/07/27/devoran-war-memorial-recreation-ground-1919/

Sadly for work reasons I won’t be at the tree planting.

However the photo image of the opening (above) is also posted up on telegraph poles and other poster spots around the village, publicity for our talk in Devoran Village Hall on Saturday evening (Saturday 14th September, 7.30 pm) entitled Devoran: WW1, Armistice and Beyond, in aid of the Devoran Village Hall  fund.

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2019/08/24/devoran-ww1-the-armistice-and-beyond-talk-on-14-september-2019/

Illustrated Talk on Saturday 14th September 2019 7.30 pm hosted by Mark Norris (Devoran War Memorial Project) and Ann Cunningham (Devoran Village Hall), as fundraising on behalf of the Devoran Village Hall.

Tickets: £5.00

Contact dvhchairman@outlook.com to reserve a ticket.
Tickets should be available on the door.
Refreshments available.

We look forwards to seeing you!

Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial Project blog, 12 September 2019

Remembering the outbreak of WW2 on 3rd September 1939 80 Years On

Second World War names added round the back section of Devoran war memorial, above the WW2 names. Must retake this wonky photo! 

Sunday 3rd September 1939, as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced on the BBC radio around 11 am that Britain once again was at war with Germany over its invasion of Poland.

In many parts of the country, shortly afterwards the air raid sirens sounded and people headed for the shelters.

Thankfully it was a false alarm. That time.
Today is the 80th anniversary of that day and for many ageing child evacuees and young people of that era , they still clearly remember the disruption of evacuation, the fear of aerial bombing and over the next six years many upheavals in ordinary life it caused their parents and families.

This broadcast is featured in this newspaper coverage.
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/uk-world/969930/second-world-war-80th-anniversary-when-angus-raised-concerns-about-evacuated-dundee-children-infecting-and-contaminating-their-homes/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/3/newsid_3493000/3493279.stm

Devoran men and women would again be called up to serve; some did not return. 

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/index-of-devoran-ww2-names/

Evacuees would arrive in the village https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2016/02/24/devoran-and-its-wartime-evacuees/

followed later by the GIs from America preparing for D-Day. 

Once our talk in Devoran Village Hall on 14th September 2019 on WW1 is over:

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2019/08/24/devoran-ww1-the-armistice-and-beyond-talk-on-14-september-2019/

we hope to run another fundaraising talk for the Village Hall on how the village changed in WW2 sometime in 2020?

Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial Project, 3rd September 2019.

 

‘Devoran – WW1, The Armistice and Beyond’ talk on 14 September 2019

Devoran School Headmaster Mr. W.R. Cock speaks at the dedication ceremony of the playing field to lost ‘old boys’ of the school & men of the parish who served in WW1, 12 September 1919

September 2019 is the 100th anniversary of the Devoran War Memorial Recreation Ground, gifted to the village in memory of the Devoran men who served in WW1.

Dedication stone of the Devoran War memorial ground.

This well-used patch of ground is one part of the way that the village remembered and came to terms with the terrible events of WW1 along with the granite war memorial and the handwritten Roll of Honour. It was a time of great change in the village as it adjusted to the loss of a railway and harbour but gained a village hall.

Following on from our talk in 2016 on ‘Devoran in the early years of WW1’ on behalf of the Devoran War Memorial Project, Mark Norris will give an illustrated talk on what happened to some of the men of Devoran, their families and the village in the final years of the war and its aftermath.

Illustrated Talk on Saturday 14th September 2019 7.30 pm  hosted by Mark Norris (Devoran War Memorial Project) and Ann Cunningham (Devoran Village Hall), as fundraising on behalf of the Devoran Village Hall.

Tickets: £5.00 contact dvhchairman@outlook.com to reserve a ticket.

Tickets should be available on the door.

Refreshments available.

Remembering Richard Stephens of Devoran died WW1 on 7 February 1919

R. Stephens image (Courtesy of Graham Crocker / Tony Dyson)

Richard Stephens is the last of the WW1 casualties from the Devoran War Memorial. Read more about him at:

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/devoran-first-world-war-casualties-q-to-z/

R Stephens non-military headstone, Feock Churchyard (Image Copyright: TWGPP/CWGC, The War Graves Photographic Project)

Sub Lieutenant R. Stephens,  HMS Terrible, Royal Navy, died in a naval hospital on Friday 7 February 1919, aged 49. He is buried in Feock Church Cemetery, amongst 2 other  local naval casualties from the 1914-1919 period, Edwin Lewarne and Thomas Williams.

https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/results/?cemetery=FEOCK%20(ST.%20FEOCK)%20CHURCH%20CEMETERY

Feock Churchyard (Image copyright TWGPP/CWGC, The War Graves Photographic Project)

Richard Stephens, Remembered –  7 February 1919/2019

Sadly his name on the back panel of the Memorial (erected 1919?) sits above those of the 1939-1945 war whose 80th anniversary begins in September this year.

Second World War names added round the back section of Devoran war memorial, above the WW2 names.

The War Memorial Recreation Ground was dedicated on 12 September 1919, 100 years ago in 2019, as Devoran returned to peacetime.

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2019/01/16/coming-home-devoran-1919y/

Richard Stephens was the last of our Devoran WW1 Casualties. Many others who returned home, recorded on the Village Hall Roll of Honour, would live with the mental physical effects of war service for the rest of their lives.

Blogposted by Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial Project, 7 February 2019.

Remembering Richard John Bilkey of Devoran died 31st January 1919

R.J. Bilkey

Corporal 200901 Richard John Bilkey, 1/4 Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, died of illness aged 26 on 31 January 1919.

The CWGC website lists him as son of Richard and Emma Bilkey of Tresithick, Carnon Downs, Perranwell Station, Cornwall.

Richard John or ‘Jack’ Bilkey  is buried in Grave Reference E124, Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.

R J Bilkey’s headstone , Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt (Image copyright TWGPP?CWGC: The War Graves Photographic Project)

Kantara was important in the defence of Suez and its canal against the Turks. This cemetery east of Suez was used for burials from 1916 to 1920 from various hospitals as well as reburials from isolated cemeteries.

The post war 1919 date suggests Bilkey died of wounds or illness in hospital in Egypt. His niece Josephine Lilly of Carnon Downs (who supplied the family photographs in 2007 of R. J. Bilkey) believes that he died of pneumonia.

Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt where R J Bilkey is buried. (Image copyright TWGPP/CWGC: The War Graves Photographic Project)

R. J. Bilkey (pictured L in Cairo and R. Alexandria with sergeant stripes) from the family collection of Josephine Lilly, a niece of Richard Bilkey. Taken from Tony Dyson’s 2007 research

Richard John Bilkey was born c. January to March 1893, the birth registered in Truro. In the 1911 census he is listed as an 18 year old Farm Labourer, born Tresithick, Feock.
His father, also called Richard Bilkey (1854 – 1939) was a farm bailiff on the 1911 census. His mother was Emma Jane Bilkey (nee Hooper, 1865 – 1930).

Clearly John or ‘Jack’ was how he was known locally, sharing the same first name as his father, a practice adopted by many Cornish families at the time.
Bilkey at the time was a local Devoran name judging by the Edwardian / Victorian class photographs of Devoran School in Ralph and Marie Bird’s Devoran and Its River. A girl, Mowin Bilkey is shown in the c. 1900 class photograph (page 51, top).
Phil Traverton, the great nephew of J Bilkey, passed on information about Phil’s grandmother’s brother (from the late Violet Dunstan of Hugus) and gave us a little family history related to “Uncle Jack, as family legend says he was the first man to volunteer at a recruitment drive at Camborne.”

To learn more about Devoran’s WW1 casulaties, start here:

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/devoran-first-world-war-casualties-names-a-to-c/

In a week or two on February 7th 1919/2019 we will be marking the centenary of the death of Richard Stephens, the last of the WW1 Devoran Casualties to die. 

https://devoranwarmemorial.wordpress.com/2019/01/16/coming-home-devoran-1919y/

Blog posted on 31st January 2019 by Mark Norris, Devoran War Memorial project blog.