Harry Bradley

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Harry Bradley was born on 4th January 1916, the son of Henry Lowis (Harry) and Ethel Mary Collins. Henry and Ethel subsequently married on the 23rd October 1916 in Sotby. Henry was a farmer in West Barkwith and Harry the first of four children (Harry, Evelyn, Christine and Walter). Sadly, his eldest sister, Evelyn, died of pneumonia and influenza on 4th February 1937 aged just three and a half years and is buried in West Barkwith.

Although the family lived in Hatton, Harry attended East Barkwith School, starting on the 16th October 1922. Harry later married Doreen Bradley of Kirkcaldy, Fife.

During the Second World War Harry served with the Royal Corps of Signals, and was attached to the 11th Indian Division Signals. This division was formed in Malaya in May 1941 and was under the command of the 111th Indian Army Corps. 

Following the Japanese landings at the start of December 1941, the division endured a gruelling ten week campaign in the North of the Malay Peninsular on the Thailand border, suffering severe losses at Jitra, Gurun and later at Slim River. Some of the infantry units in the division registered 50% casualties. 

Following a violent Battle on the Muar River in Jahore the Division was finally compelled to withdraw to Singapore Island, where, what remained of the 9th & 11th Divisions amalgamated. Once again the Division found itself in the front line and took heavy casualties. 

On the 15th February 1942, Singapore with its remaining 85,000 strong Commonwealth force surrendered to the Japanese. More than 13,000 British imperial soldiers died in the Malayan Campaign and over 8,000 were killed in action during the siege of Singapore.

Harry was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore and subsequently died in captivity two and a half years later on the 21st September 1944. His final resting place is unknown but he is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial.

Son of Peter and Christina Creamer; husband of Margaret Creamer, of Panton, Lincolnshire

Imphal, the capital of Manipur State, is in north east India and borders on upper Burma. Strategically well placed for attacks on the lines of communication by railway, road and river which were vital for the maintenance of all Allied operations in Burma, Imphal with its airfields was a main objective when the Japanese made their thrust towards India in the spring of 1944. There was severe fighting in the surrounding hills and on the outskirts of the plain and the Japanese succeeded in cutting a long section of the Imphal-Kohima road and holding it for over three months. The Fourteenth Army held on grimly, inflicting heavy punishment on the Japanese. Of all the battles on this frontier of India the siege of Imphal and its relief in the summer of 1944 rank next in importance to the Battle of Kohima.

It is not known whether William himself ever lived in Panton, or whether his wife Margaret moved there after the war.

Kenneth Henry Dean, born in 1924, was the son of Edwin and Alice Amelia Dean of Wragby. His parents Edwin Dean and Alice Amelia Thomas had married in 1922, the marriage being registered in Louth. He had at least one sibling, a sister.

During the Second World War, Kenneth joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR).

The RAFVR was formed in July 1936. Initially the RAFVR was composed of civilians recruited into Reserve Flying Schools, which were run by civilian contractors. Navigation instructors were mainly former master mariners without any air experience. Recruits were initially confined to men of between 18 and 25 years of age who had been accepted for part time training as Pilots, Observers and Wireless Operators. The object was to provide a reserve of aircrew for use in the event of war. By September 1939, the RAFVR comprised 6,646 Pilots, 1,625 Observers and 1,946 Wireless Operators.

When war broke out in 1939 the Air Ministry employed the RAFVR as the principal means for aircrew entry to serve with the RAF. A civilian volunteer on being accepted for aircrew training took an oath of allegiance ('attestation') and was then inducted in to the RAFVR. Normally he returned to his civilian job for several months until he was called up for aircrew training. By the end of 1941 more than half of Bomber Command aircrew were members of the RAFVR. Eventually of the "RAF" aircrew in the Command probably more than 95% were serving members of the RAFVR.

Kenneth held the rank of Sergeant and served as a Flight Engineer with 61 Squadron, taking part in air operations during the time when losses were most heavy. 

The Squadron took part in many notable operations including:

• the first bombing raid on a German land target (Hornum, 19/20 March 1940)
• the first big bombing raid on the German mainland (Monchengladbach, 11/12 May 1940)
• the first bombing raid on Berlin (25/26 August 1940)
• the attacks on Le Creusot and Peenemünde (17 October 1942 and 17/18 August 1943, respectively)

Beginning operations with Hampdens, the squadron converted in July 1941 to the more modern Manchesters and later in spring 1942 to Lancasters. 

On the 18th March 1944 Kenneth was a member of the crew on-board Avro Lancaster type III, with serial ND727 and code QR-C, which took-off from RAF Coningsby at 19:17 on a mission to bomb Frankfurt in Germany.

The Lancaster’s crew consisted of:

• RAF PO Cannon, L Captain (Pilot) 
• RAF Sgt K H Dean, (Flight Engineer) 
• RAF Flt Sgt G J Hull, (Navigator) 
• RAF Sgt R Stones, (Air Bomber) 
• RAF Sgt H Wyrill, (Wireless Air Gunner) 
• RAF Sgt H Sherliker, (Mid Upper Gunner) 
• RAAF 426337 Flt Sgt J M Green (Rear Gunner)

Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A later Air Ministry investigation report stated that the aircraft, upon approaching from an easterly direction, was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed on the outskirts of Biegwald Forest, Frankfurt. As the aircraft had been carrying incendiary bombs, the fire was intense and burned for a day. 

The bodies of Flt Sgts Green and Hull had been thrown clear of the wreckage, and they are buried in the Durnbach War Cemetery, Bayern, Germany. The remains of the other five members of the crew, including Kenneth Dean, were removed from the wreckage under control of the Luftwaffe authorities, however it is not known to which burial site they were taken. Their names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, at Runnymede, Surrey, UK.

Robert French was born in 1919, the son of Mr Charles Albert French and Mrs Jane Elizabeth French (nee Bushell). His father, Charles had been born in 1879 in Binbrook and married Jane, from Fulstow, on the 1st December 1903 in Kelstern. At the time of the 1911 census they were living at Gayton Le Wold, where Charles was working as a shepherd, however by the time of the war they had moved and were living in West Barkwith.

During the Second World War, Robert served in the Royal Navy on-board HMS Acheron.

HMS Acheron was an A-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, ordered on 29 May 1928 from the yards of John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston, Hampshire under the 1927 Naval Estimates. She was laid down on 29 October 1928 and was launched a year later on 18 March 1930. She was commissioned on 13 October 1931. The ship suffered from a number of mechanical problems which became evident in the first year of her service and would go on to plague her for the whole of her service, despite a succession of modifications and refits. When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, she was under repair at Portsmouth and was not able to take up her war station until December 1939.

On completion of repairs and refit, she joined the 16th Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow on 23 March 1940. The flotilla was then deployed in the North Western Approaches and the North Sea. After the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, Acheron was deployed with the flotilla on convoy defence and fleet screening duties in support of the military landings in Norway. On 17 April, she and Arrow were part of the escort for the cruisers Galatea, Arethusa, Carlisle and Curacoa. The cruisers then landed troops at Åndalsnes and Molde. On arrival at Åndalsnes on 18 April, Acheron was detached and deployed on patrol and escort duties. She then escorted the aircraft carrier Glorious from Scapa Flow, before deploying with the destroyers Antelope and Beagle off Namsos.

On 31 May 1940, Acheron, Acasta, Ardent, Highlander and Diana escorted the carriers Glorious and Ark Royal to Norway to cover the final evacuation of British troops from Norway (Operation Alphabet). This was completed by 9 June, whereupon Acheron resumed her normal duties with the flotilla. She then operated in the English Channel to escort convoys and was in dock at Portsmouth on 21 June to have a 3 inch (76 mm) High Angle gun fitted to improve her anti-aircraft defence. Whilst sailing 10 mi (16 km) south off St. Catherine's Point on 20 July, she was attacked by German dive bombers, and was damaged by nine near misses.

She began repairs at Portsmouth Dockyard on 6 August 1940, but on 24 August she was seriously damaged during an air raid which killed two of her crew and injured another three. One bomb hit her aft section and exploded, causing severe damage to her machinery, "Y" gun and superstructure. This caused her repairs to be extended until October, with her “Y” Gun being replaced by a mounting from the destroyer Boadicea, which had been damaged in June. In November, Acheron was nominated for service as a gunnery training destroyer.

Repairs were fully completed by the 2nd December and she began post refit trials. On 17 December, she was sailing off the Isle of Wight. The trial was being conducted at night, in heavy seas and with a strong north-east wind in complete darkness. She was conducting steaming exercises over a measured mile, 8 nmi (9.2 mi; 15 km) west-south-west of St. Catherine's Point. On one of the passes, she struck a mine. The explosion caused major structural damage forward and her own speed drove her under. She sank within four minutes, taking 196 crewmen and yard workers, who were on board for the trials, to the bottom. There were only 19 survivors. Robert French was one of the crew who were lost that day. The mine was probably one of those laid by the Luftwaffe in no definite pattern along the Channel coast. Her sinking was not made public until 27 December 1940.

The wreck-site is designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. Robert is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Walter Scott was the son of John and Fanny Scott. Walter’s father John was a farm labourer, born in East Torrington in 1882. His mother was Fanny Shucksmith, born 1886, who in 1901 was living in West Barkwith with her parents. She married John Scott in 1906 and on the 1911 census they are shown living in West Barkwith where their first two children (Dorothy and Mabel) had been born. 

During the Second World War, Walter served as a corporal in the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. It is not currently known, when Walter joined the battalion.

The 2nd Battalion entered France in September 1939 as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), witnessing from the front line the German attack on Belgium at Louvain and then the German Blitzkrieg beginning on May 10th 1940. They fought a fierce rear-guard action as part of the British 3rd Infantry Division under command of General Montgomery, covering the dramatic withdrawal of the British Army through the carnage of Dunkirk and eventually arrived back to England with less than 25% of their original force. Many of the battalion had been captured at Poperinge, near Dunkirk on the 26th May.

On the 6th June 1944, almost four years to the day after the demoralizing evacuation at Dunkirk the Battalion including Walter, landed on the coast of Normandy on D-Day. The battalion was part of the landings near Hermanville-sur-Mer, designated Sword Beach.

In June 2014 a plaque was unveiled at Hermanville-sur-Mer, to commemorate the men of the 2nd Battalion who lost their lives that day. 

Following the landings, the battalion spent their first month in Normandy making slow progress. The planned rapid advance and taking of objectives including Caen, did not materialise. After the initial action near the coast the battalion remained near Le Mesnil, while the allied advance was held up. Throughout June the men were frequently involved in undertaking patrols both day and night to probe the enemy positions.

At the start of July, as part of Operation Charnwood, the objective of which was to capture Caen, the 2nd Battalion moved forward to try to capture the village of Herouville. On the evening of the 7th July, the main attack on Caen was proceeded by a large scale air bombardment, watched by the men of the battalion from their location at Beauregard Chateau. The following day the main attack of Caen commenced taking the city with relative ease, however on the left flank the 2nd Battalion were encountering stubborn resistance and were soon embroiled in hard fighting. When the enemy finally gave up the village, they were able to observe the Lincolnshire’s advance and subjected them to heavy mortar fire. Twice during the day the Germans counter-attacked with tanks, but were beaten off by the battalion. Over the course of the battle the 2nd Lincolns took many casualties.

Following on from Operation Charnwood came Operation Goodwood starting on the 18th July, which was an attack in a southerly direction east from Caen, by three armoured divisions supported by aircraft and artillery. As part of the operations around this attack, the battalion was deployed to “Black Orchard” in Banneville, where the dry ground, badly churned by heavy bombing, made the digging of positions very difficult. In these poor defences the battalion held position but was cruelly exposed to bombardment by enemy mortars, losing 10 officers and 200 other ranks on and around the 20th July. Walter was one of the men killed on the 20th July and is commemorated on the Bayeux Memorial.