World War Two Tickhill War Memorial

Names E to K Frank Ellis

Captain – 153643 – 111 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery - Frank was the only son of Joshua and Martha Ann Ellis of 4 Rawson Road, Tickhill. He was educated at Tickhill National School and Doncaster Grammar School. After being employed as a civilian clerk in the West Riding Constabulary, he joined the Huddersfield Borough Police Force on 02 December 1937 and was attached to “A” Division. He was a keen sportsman and played with the Borough Police cricket team. His father, the late Mr Joshua Ellis, served for many years in the West Riding Constabulary. At the outbreak of war he joined the Royal Artillery and soon attained the rank of sergeant. He was afterwards granted a commission and was promoted to the rank of captain, within a short space of time. Frank was in the 111 Field Regiment, which in November 1943, was part of the 8th Indian Division on the Sangro River. At the time of his death, on 08 December 1943, aged 27, he was acting major and was in command of a battery. Captain Ellis had served overseas about 18 months and had been involved in the fighting in Libya and North Africa, he then took part in the fighting in Sicily and the landings in Italy, he had also been recommended for the Military Cross. He is buried in the Sangro River War Cemetery in Italy, Plot XV, Row B, Grave 44.

Bateman Redge Garnett Flying Officer – 169000 – Pilot – 158 Squadron, FAF Volunteer Reserve - Bateman lived with his parents, Henry and Winifred (Nee Bagshaw) at ”Westgarth” on Dam Road in Tickhill. His father was a wine merchant, with his business being in the Sheffield/Rotherham area. F/O Garnett and his crew took off from Lissett airfield (six miles due east of Great Driffield) at 0329 on 18 July 1944 bound for Caen. His aircraft, a Halifax 111, MZ730 NP-Q, crashed between St-Pierre-du-Jonquet (Calvados) and Bellengreville, 12 km ESE of Caen. The three members of the crew who died are buried in Banneville la Campagne War Cemetery. Bateman is buried in plot XI, Row B, Grave 27. They are also commemorated on the Lissett Memorial erected in memory of the 851 airmen who lost their lives on active service from Lissett Airfield during World War II. It is made from weathered steel stands about 7 feet high and is inscribed on both sides with all the names of those that lost there lives, it is well worth a visit as it is very striking either during the day or night.

The full crew were :- F/O Bateman Redge Garnett – Pilot – Killed – aged 21. Sergeant Stanley Waring Smith – Flight Engineer – Killed Sergeant J.W. Perkins – POW F/O Francis James Dyer – Air Bomber (From Mitcham in Surrey) – Killed F/O W B Nelson – POW Sergeant W. L. Thompson – POW Sergeant P.A. Tarlton – POW

942 aircraft - 667 Lancasters, 260 Halifaxes and 15 Mosquitos – took off to bomb five fortified villages in the area east of Caen through which British Second Army troops were about to make an armoured attack, codename - Operation Goodwood. The raids took place at dawn in clear conditions. 4 of the targets were satisfactorily marked by OBOE and at the target where OBOE failed, the Master Bomber, Squadron Leader EK Creswell, and other Pathfinder crews used visual methods. American bombers also attacked these targets and a total of 6,800 tons of bombs were dropped, of which Bomber Command dropped more than 5,000 tons. Elements of two German divisions, the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division and the 21st Panzer Division, were badly affected by the bombing, the Luftwaffe Division particularly so. Operation Goodwood made a good start. This raid was either the most useful or one of the most useful of the operations carried out by Bomber Command in direct support of the Allied armies. The aircraft bombed from medium heights, 5,000-

9,000ft, but army artillery and naval gunfire subdued many of the flak batteries, but 6 aircraft - 5 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster - were shot down. No German fighters appeared as Allied air superiority over the battlefield by day was complete.

The above grave/memorial is located in St Mary’s churchyard, Tickhill. Henry Redge Garnett – died 25 December 1943 - aged 57. Winifred Crossland Garnett – died 29 November 1963 – aged 72. Bateman Redge Garnett – KIA 18 July 1944 – aged 21. Peter Raymond Harris Sergeant/Observer – 581152 – 18 Squadron RAF - Peter Raymond Harris - was the observer in Blenheim P6933 of 18 Squadron when it took off from RAF West Raynham, Norfolk, on a sortie to attack French airfields – the aircraft was shot down on 16 July 1940, 10 km northwest of Vlissingen, south-west Holland, by a Messerschmidt BF 109 flown by Feldwebel Georg Kiening of 06/Jagdeschwader 54 – “Grunherz” (The Green Hearts).

Information from “The Other Few” by Larry Donnelly, page 37. The crew of Blenheim P6933 were:- Anthony St John Bunker – Pilot – Aged 20 – From Barnes, Surrey - Buried Cement House Cemetery, Langemark-Poelkapelle, Belgium. Peter Raymond Harris – Observer – Aged 19c – From Tickhill. John Frederick Hatch – W/Op/Air Gunner – Aged 25 – From Watford. Both Peter and John are buried in Flushing (Vlissingen) Northern Cemetery, Netherlands. – Row A Joint Grave 2. It is not known, at this stage why the pilot is buried so far from his crew – perhaps he survived the initial incident and died later from wounds, or as a POW. Bomber Command Losses Vol.1 records "Believed to have crashed in the sea off Belgium". All crew members have the same date of death on the CWGC register so you may be looking at two bodies being washed ashore on the northern side of the Schelde but why one was buried so far in-land (25ish km) is a bit odd. Though it was at the northern end of the British sector of the Western Front and therefore the pre-existing cemeteries. Bunker's body was found washed ashore at Heist-aan-Zee and initially buried there. Harris and Hatch were recovered from the sea by the German Navy (Harris 25th and Hatch 27th July). Regards, Henk. Peter is buried in Flushing (Vlissingen) Northern Cemetery, Netherlands – Row A, Joint Grave 2. He is believed to be the son of Harry Harris and Lily Zubbin – who married in York in 1920 before moving to Hull and then to Sandrock, Tickhill. John Edward Harrison Guardsman – 402396 – 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards - John Edward Harrison was the son of Harry and Alice Harrison of Maltby and husband of Ethel Harrison of Maltby. John is believed to have died on 01 June 1940, aged 32 - He is buried in Marquise Communal Cemetery, Plot 1, Row D, Grave 14. Marquise is a small village between Boulogne and Calais. The British Plot, was created to receive casualties removed from graves on the beaches of Bray-Dunes during Operation Dynamo, this was the

code name for the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk between 27 May and 04 June 1940. British and Allied losses at Dunkirk were very heavy. The BEF lost 68,111 killed, wounded and prisoner, 2472 guns, 63,879 vehicles, 20548 motorcycles and 500,000 tons of stores and ammunition during the evacuation, while the RAF lost 106 aircraft during the fighting. The number of prisoners captured is not entirely clear – German sources suggest that 80,000 men were captured around Dunkirk, other sources give much lower figures, but few go lower than 40,000. At least 243 ships were sunk, including six Royal Navy destroyers, with another 19 suffering damage.

Soldiers awaiting to be evacuated from the beach at Bray-Dunes. Roger Malcom Helliwell Private – 14612384 – 1/4th Battalion, KOYLI - The photograph is of Private Helliwell's grave in Ryes War Cemetery in Bazenville, Calvados, France, Plot II, Row F, Grave 1 – the cemetery is not far inland from the beaches at Arromanche in Normandy. Roger was only 19 when he was killed, the son of Frederick and Minnie Helliwell of Tickhill, one of fourteen to sixteen children. They lived at 101 Doncaster road Tickhill.

Roger worked for a local coal merchant prior to being conscripted to the army. He apparently went to war under a cloud, this is according to family stories, he was not supposed to go to war because of the employment he was in at the time, however his employer decided that every young man should defend King and Country and disposed of his services, hence Roger was sent to war and subsequently killed. this could have been the reason that one of his brothers refused to help with the war effort and was put in to prison Roger was killed on 27 June 1944, aged 19, apparently he was shot in the chest, as one of his relatives had his wallet with a bullet hole in the corner, she would show the family the wallet now and again, however she died in 1980 aged 57. Of his siblings

four are buried in Tickhill one in Mexborough one in Maltby, his parents are I believe in separate graves one in the Churchyard the other in the Graveyard.

This is the Epitaph from Roger Helliwell’s Gravestone in Bazenville.

John Herbert Kendrick Gunner – 847891 – 12 Battery, 6 HAA Regiment, Royal Artillery - John was born John Herbert Williamson in 1915 – however, his father died, when John was very young and his mother re-married a Kendrick and John became known as John Kendrick, it appears that he was not formally adopted – this only coming to light after his death, when the CWGC requested a copy of his birth certificate – which confirmed that his name was John Herbert Williamson and not Kendrick – Prior to

enlisting he was employed at Harworth Colliery whilst living at 19 King Edward Road in Tickhill. He was involved In the evacuation from Dunkirk and his sister, Myfanwy says he went shortly afterwards to Singapore, the Doncaster Gazette for Thursday 08 August 1943 states he was posted as “missing” some 17 months earlier – he was taken prisoner by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore and transported to Java prior to being taken to work on the infamous Burma- Siam Railway where he died, aged 28 - He is buried at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Plot 8, Row F, Grave 7.