The Walking Scotsman
IMG_0133 - Remembrance 2019 - Douglas Bank
From left;
ENGELHART, W.C., Kapitein-Luitenant Monteur Onderzeedienst, Koningklijke Marine. (Submarine Captain-Lieutenant Engineer, Royal Netherlands Navy)
CHERKOWSKI, Maksymilian, Marynarc, Marynarka Wojenna. (Sailor, Polish Navy)
HENDERSON, William George, 413766, Pilot Officer, Royal Australian Air Force. Killed at 15h21 on 31 March 1943 when DH86B Rapide AX844 of 782 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm crashed on take off from HMS Merlin en route to RAF Turnhouse (now Edinburgh Airport) on a familiarisation flight. P/O Henderson was the son of William Gordon and Pauline Elvira de Lerma Henderson, of Roseville, New South Wales, Australia. The aircraft was impressed for military service upon the invasion of the Channel Islands formerly flying as G-ACZR "La Saline Bay" of Jersey Airways.
SHROFF, Owen Mortimer, 416645, Flying Officer, Royal New Zealand Air Force. Killed in the above accident. F/O Shroff was the son of Alfred Homy and Kathleen Robert Shroff of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.
SMITH, Alfred, Fireman, Merchant Navy, S.S. British Progress (tanker). Fireman Smith was the son of James and Annie Smith and husband of Mary Ann Smith, of Tilbury, Essex.
DOBSON, Margaret Ethne Jean, First Officer, Womens Royal Naval Service. Killed when DH.89A Rapide, R9563, 782 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, crashed into Kempstone Hill, 3 miles north of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire whilst en route from Hatston, Kirkwall, Orkney to HMS Merlin, RNAS Donibristle. First Officer Dobson was the daughter of Richard Augustus and Margaret Augusta Dobson. She is also listed as being a Flying Officer and being the co-pilot and navigator on this fatal flight.
The inscription at the foot of her grave is from the poem "Break, Break, Break" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Perhaps her parents wanted us to read the following lines of the poem;
"But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
and the sound of a voice that is still"
TENNYSON, Frederick Penrose, Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Killed in same crash as First Officer Dobson.
Son of Charles Bruce Locker and Ivy Gladys Pretious Tennyson. Husband of Nova Pilbeam.
Great grandson of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Lt. Tennyson was a film director attached to the Royal Navy Instructional Film Unit. He had previously worked as assistant to Alfred Hitchcock.
About your easy heads my prayers
I say with syllables of clay.
"What gift," I asked, "shall I bring now
Before I weep and walk away?"
"Take," they replied, "the oak and the laurel
Take our fortune of tears and live
Like a spendthrift lover. All we ask
Is the one gift you cannot give."
Charles Causley.
IMG_0133 - Remembrance 2019 - Douglas Bank
From left;
ENGELHART, W.C., Kapitein-Luitenant Monteur Onderzeedienst, Koningklijke Marine. (Submarine Captain-Lieutenant Engineer, Royal Netherlands Navy)
CHERKOWSKI, Maksymilian, Marynarc, Marynarka Wojenna. (Sailor, Polish Navy)
HENDERSON, William George, 413766, Pilot Officer, Royal Australian Air Force. Killed at 15h21 on 31 March 1943 when DH86B Rapide AX844 of 782 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm crashed on take off from HMS Merlin en route to RAF Turnhouse (now Edinburgh Airport) on a familiarisation flight. P/O Henderson was the son of William Gordon and Pauline Elvira de Lerma Henderson, of Roseville, New South Wales, Australia. The aircraft was impressed for military service upon the invasion of the Channel Islands formerly flying as G-ACZR "La Saline Bay" of Jersey Airways.
SHROFF, Owen Mortimer, 416645, Flying Officer, Royal New Zealand Air Force. Killed in the above accident. F/O Shroff was the son of Alfred Homy and Kathleen Robert Shroff of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.
SMITH, Alfred, Fireman, Merchant Navy, S.S. British Progress (tanker). Fireman Smith was the son of James and Annie Smith and husband of Mary Ann Smith, of Tilbury, Essex.
DOBSON, Margaret Ethne Jean, First Officer, Womens Royal Naval Service. Killed when DH.89A Rapide, R9563, 782 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, crashed into Kempstone Hill, 3 miles north of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire whilst en route from Hatston, Kirkwall, Orkney to HMS Merlin, RNAS Donibristle. First Officer Dobson was the daughter of Richard Augustus and Margaret Augusta Dobson. She is also listed as being a Flying Officer and being the co-pilot and navigator on this fatal flight.
The inscription at the foot of her grave is from the poem "Break, Break, Break" by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Perhaps her parents wanted us to read the following lines of the poem;
"But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
and the sound of a voice that is still"
TENNYSON, Frederick Penrose, Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Killed in same crash as First Officer Dobson.
Son of Charles Bruce Locker and Ivy Gladys Pretious Tennyson. Husband of Nova Pilbeam.
Great grandson of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Lt. Tennyson was a film director attached to the Royal Navy Instructional Film Unit. He had previously worked as assistant to Alfred Hitchcock.
About your easy heads my prayers
I say with syllables of clay.
"What gift," I asked, "shall I bring now
Before I weep and walk away?"
"Take," they replied, "the oak and the laurel
Take our fortune of tears and live
Like a spendthrift lover. All we ask
Is the one gift you cannot give."
Charles Causley.