Broadwindsor’s War Memorial Ceremony

On Tuesday, 6th June, 2023 at 11am, the sun shone and the following ceremony took place. (You can find the full Itinerary HERE).
[Please note: this is an amateur recording, there IS a great shot of the Spitfire flying overhead, the names and stories read out by relatives and representatives can be found below – Editor]

Well done & thanks to the Year 6 pupils of Broadwindsor Primary School, teacher Beth Steward and Head Teacher, Jean-Paul Draper!

The Exhortation – read by Chris Loder MP:
(The Exhortation is an extract from a poem written by Robert Laurence Binyon called “For the Fallen“, written in mid-September 1914, just a few weeks after the outbreak of The War and was first published in The Times newspaper on 21st September 1914)

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them.”

Response: “We will remember them.”

The Last Post & Reveille played beautifully & perfectly by Elizabeth Carter.

The Kohima Epitaph – read by Chris Loder MP:
(The Kohima Epitaph is carved on the Memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery of Kohima (North-East India).

‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.’

Remembering…

Richard Rust & Edwin Hancock – read by Helen Doble:

On the morning of the 16 December 1940 a Westland Lysander Mk 111, flying from RAF, Weston Zoyland airfield near Bridgwater crashed into the ground at Drimpton due to low cloud and bad visibility, killing the two crew members from No 16 squadron. No 16 squadron was a RAF reconnaissance unit which had been evacuated from France in May 1940 after the Germans invaded the country.

The pilot of the Lysander was Flight Lieutenant Richard Rust age 26 who trained at Sandhurst military college for officers in the British Army before the war. After joining the Royal Fusiliers Regiment, he was later granted a temporary commission as a flying officer and seconded into the RAF in April 1939. He was awarded the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) in July 1940. Flight Lieutenant Rust, an only child, was newly married and his wife Miriam later gave birth to their son, Michael, five months after his death.

The other airman was Air Gunner Sergeant Edwin Hancock age 20 of Scunthorpe. Edwin was the eldest of five children and had been a member of the RAF volunteer reserve before the war. Edwin is buried at Middlezoy Churchyard in Somerset whilst Flight Lieutenant Rust’s remains were returned to his home town of Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire.

Flight Lieutenant Rust’s widow Miriam, later married an American Soldier and as a war bride left England in 1946 travelling on the ‘Queen Mary’ with her son.

Miriam’s daughter Sherry has written to me from America – she said:
‘My Mom adored him and he had a beautiful son Michael, he never got to meet. Michael grew up to be a wonderful person, brother, son and father  I wish my brother was aliNee Studleyve to see this. I am so honoured and grateful.’

Walter Dommett – read by Bev Coleberd Nee Studley:

I am here today for Walter Dommett. Caroline Dommett was my great grandmother. She lived with her parents and siblings here at Redlands farm. Walter Dommett was one of Carolines brothers.Their siblings were; Rosa, Mary, Caroline (herself), Arthur William, John Wyatt, Walter– who was born 1st Sept 1890, Olive, Dennis, and 2 step sisters Dorothy and Margaret (Taken from the Broadwindsor Parish Magazine for March 1917)
Killed in Action.The war has taken heavy the past month. Walter Dommett,to whose honour we remember that he was one of the first to offer himself in 1914 has been killed in action in Mesoptamia at the age of 26.
In Memory Of Private W.DOMMETT
Service Number 2506
!st/4th Bn., Devonshire Regiment who died on 03 February 1917
Remembered with Honour
Amara War Cemetery
AVIII.G.3.

Sergeant Harry Frampton – read by Gillian Yeates (nee Frampton):

Sergeant Harry Frampton was my great uncle . He was born a mile away from here at Burstock Grange Farm in 1920.
He had two brothers and two sisters and worked on his family farm until the age of 18 where he signed up for the 43rd Wessex Division at the outbreak of World War 2. Being a farmer he didn’t need to join up as he held key worker status but all his friends had and so he began his training .He got engaged to Sylvia Bridal who’s family had the George Hotel in Broadwindsor square and the plan was that after the war they would marry and run the Hotel together.

On the 25th of June 1944 he and 16,000 other 43rd Wessex division soldiers landed on the beaches of Northern France and headed to Caen to begin Operation Jupiter . This was to capture a hill known as Hill 112 overlooking the planes of
Normandy and German General Rommel said “The forces that controls Hill 112 would control Lower Normandy“.
They faced fierce resistance from German 9th,10th and 12th SS Panza divisions and the division suffered 7000 casualties of the 16,000 that set foot in France.
On July the 15th 1944 Harry was killed by a German sniper in the French village of Etterville when he popped his head over a wall .He is buried less than 3km from there in St Manvieu War Cemetery near by his great friend Maurice Loosmore. He was 24 years old.
A memorial service for him was held in Burstock Church some months later in November with the mourners packing out the Church. Our family continue to visit his grave in France and we never forget his bravery and service to our country.

Maurice Loosmore – awaiting text.

Jean Decloedt – read by Andrew Frampton:

Jean was born in the St Giles district of London on May 31st 1916 to Belgium parents Prosper & Jeanne Decloedt. They had married in 1903 and had another son ten years after Jean was born called Raymond Decloedt Following the outbreak of World War 1 they fled Belgium and sort sanctuary in London until the war had passed.

On March 1, 1940 Jean Decloedt was enlisted as a student pilot in the Belgium 84th Promotion CSLR division. After the airforces mobilisation in 1940, he joined the Belgian 1st Airborne Regiment, that operated from Oostend . He was active there as a non-commissioned officer . After the capitulation, Jean then fled his homeland on 28 May 1940 and chose to join the Belgian forces in England. He arrived in England on 5th August 1940, where he joined the Belgian section of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve . He trained as a pilot at RAF Sealand near Chester with No.5 Service Flying Training School but because he was colour-blind, he was not able to join operational squadrons and  ended up at No. 3 Delivery Flight at RAF High Ercall, Shropshire, tasked with delivering new and repaired Spitfires as replacements around the country. He continued to do that until Sunday 15 March 1942.

He was given the orders to fly a Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb, serial number BL463 from Warrington to a cliff top air base on the south Devon coast called Bolt head to No 317 squadron a Polish squadron to replace Spitfires lost in action. That afternoon Jean prepared himself at RAF Burtonwood, Warrington in Cheshire for what would become his final flight. At about a quarter past six that evening, a sputtering aircraft engine was heard over head here in low cloud and his spitfire crashed into the North side of Lewesdon Hill killing him on impact.  My grandfather on home guard duty that day ,was one of the first on the scene armed with a hazel stick in case it was a German airman. Jean‘s body was taken to Bridport Hospital and later buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.

On 20 October 1949 he made his final voyage as his remains were repatriated to Brussels. Jean Decloedt received a headstone at the Belgian Airmen’s Memorial at the Brussels Cemetery in Evere.

Last year, 80 years to the day, his great niece attended a memorial service we held at Lewesdon hill where a permanent memorial remembers his story. (Click HERE to read more.)

To all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We will never forget.

Added on social media by Clive Wilson:

Main Photo & video recording – Editor.

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