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St George's House,
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The Armed Services Many of the men & women who were raised at St George's House, fought in the First and Second World Wars and for that matter in many of the armed conflicts since then. The intention of this article is to draw attention to the participation of St George's men and women in all of the services, including Nursing and the Police Force. Below are reproduced some of those photographs showing their involvement. Flanking the St George's flag are two photographs of the 1918 War Memorial. This memorial was donated in December 1918 by Dr & Mrs Crawford Watson and was unveiled by the Rt Honourable John Grenfell Maxwell, PC,GCB,Commander in Chief, Northern Command. The image portrayed on the memorial shows the vision of St George appearing to and succouring Richard,Coeur de Lion. Inscribed in gold on the pediment are the words 'Deus Vult', being the Crusaders motto. When St George's closed, the Memorial was relocated to St Mary's Church in Westcliffe Terrace then to St Andrew's Police Convalescent Home (see photo below) and later, donated to the Ripon Museum. A further memorial in memory of those from St George's who lost their lives in the Second World War was erected by the Old Boys and Girls, Easter 1947, this memorial has recently been refurbished and is also cared for by the Ripon Museum (see photo below)
Thirty Seven old boys from St George's served during the First World War
and of these, 10 gave their lives.
Police Constable John Ashburne, who was born in Cumbria, served with the
West Yorkshire Police Force,
Alfred Ashburne (7)
Richard Ashburne (6)
World War: 1939 - 1945
Richard H. Peacock.
D.F.C.
Pilot Officer R.H.Peacock (191819) RAF (VR) 640 Squadron
No. 640 Squadron was formed at Leconfield
on 7 January 1944 from C Flight of
CITATION Pilot Officer Peacock has completed
numerous sorties against enemy
During the Second
World War, girls at the Orphanage knitted various articles for the
serving men, made camouflage Service Men & Women
Lt Col (Rt'd) Peter A. Geraghty MBE, BEM.
John Newton
Tom
Berry
The War Years
79th Armoured
Division The Division was unique in that it's tanks were adapted to deal, initially, with the various problems of terrain and defence, which would face our troops attacking the coast of northern Europe. These included amphibious tanks, on the face of it a contradiction in terms, which could be launched from tank landing craft some distance from the beach and then 'swim' ashore. There were also flame throwers, tanks with circulating heavy chains which cleared a path through minefields, others with a large bobbin of reinforced 'carpet' which could be unrolled over soft ground to provide a useable road for vehicles. There were also a number of others adapted in different ways to provide passage for vehicles over various obstacles.
German 'V' Weapons
Some months later the
Division headquarters occupied what had been an hotel a few miles south
of Antwerp. One evening I was working in the office and had gone outside
when I heard a deep rumble coming from the sky. Looking up towards the
sound I saw a light coming down and, it seemed to be coming in my
general direction. As I hadn't the faintest idea what it was, it seemed
a good idea to squat down between two Jeeps which were parked fairly
close together. Fortunate that I did as, not too far away, there
was an enormous explosion and part of the hotel's roof came down, but
didn't hit me. Even more fortunate was the fact that the rocket, for
that was what it was, landed in very soft ground and left a large
crater, thus doing little other damage. If it had landed on a hard
surface the outcome might have been very different. I believe this
must have been the first of these weapons to be used as the following
day General Montgomery came to inspect the scene. Belsen Concentration
Camp German medical staff were made to clean and delouse the survivors, who were moved into a nearby German army camp. There were, however, serious problems with regard to food as the prisoners were unable to cope with a normal diet after their periods of starvation. Unfortunately, very many were beyond recall and, in spite of the efforts of the medical people, a large number died in the following few months. My own impression of
some of the male prisoners was of their striped uniforms hanging from
coat-hangers, topped with skulls. There seemed to be so little flesh on
faces or bodies. Tom Berry. 2009
Corporal John Philip Bly, 2721129 RAFP His father was Police
Sergeant Philip Bly of the Lincolnshire Constabulary and John, himself,
was a Police Cadet with the same Force. His father died, aged 49, in the
December Quarter of 1944. In the St George's Annual Report for 1955 - 1956 is the following reference to John Philip Bly:
“One
sad item of news we received in February was that Corporal John Philip
Bly (Lincs), who left St. George’s in April 1952, was killed in the
plane which crashed on Malta on February 18th. We had a long
letter from him in the previous August saying how he was looking forward
to the completion of his National Service in March 1956, and hoping to
become engaged to be married, and it seems hard to grasp that his
promising young life had come to such a sudden end.”
The Military Report included the following:
Narrative: Squadron Leader. Leonard
Cecil Parkes
Leonard Cecil Parkes, born 20 April, 1902, entered St George's in 1906.
Child number 120.
Jack & Dennis Grist Jack Grist (368) was born in Skegness, Lincolnshire on 4th August 1915. Before WWII and after leaving St George's he worked at the County Hall Boston.During the war he reached the rank of Captain and was serving in Palestine up to at least 1948 where he met and married an American - Dorothy May Donnell (she was something to do with scouting and the girl guide movement) on 10th March 1948 in Nuseirat. He was in charge of transport. Dennis Grist (363) was born in Alford, Lincolnshire on 21st may 1921 and died on 26th February 2004 in Boston Lincolnshire.During WWII he spent time in Canada - Winnipeg and Malta. He married Mary Georgiana Pinches in Boston on 16th June 1952 and was a clerical officer with the Inland Revenue.
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