Roll of Honour: Bradford Dockerty

Flight Sergeant (Air Gunner) B. W. O. Dockerty

640 Sqn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

1801212

Died on active service, 2 February 1945, England. Aged 22.

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Bradford Dockerty was born in 1923, the son of Mr and Mrs A. H. Dockerty of Send, Surrey.

Bradford left the County School in 1933 while in the second year.

Before the war Bradford was an active member of Send Air Training Corps. Only months before his death he married F. E. C. Chamberlain.

640 Squadron was a heavy bomber squadron operating Mk III Handley-Page Halifax bombers from RAF Leconfield near Beverley in Yorkshire.

Halifax Mk. III

Bradford was an air gunner aboard Halifax MZ492 of 640 Sqdn when it took to the air at 2036 on 2 February 1945 heading for an attack on the synthetic oil refinery at Wanne-Eickel, Germany. Just twelve minutes after take off the pilot reduced power and the aircraft was seen to bank steeply and crash into Lakes Wood near Lockington. Only one member of the crew survived.

The crew that night were as follows:

Pilot Officer Noel Sisley - Aged 20 from Queensland, Australia. Killed.

Sgt. J. S. Whitman - Escaped practically unscathed.

Sgt. Walter Jeffries - Australian. Killed.

Sgt. Thomas Gibson - Aged 21 from Bamburgh. Killed.

Flt. Sgt. Alexander Gray - Aged 21 from Aberdeen. Killed.

Sgt. Martin Delahunty - Aged 21 from Prestwich. Killed.

Bradford Dockerty is buried in Abingdon New Cemetery, Oxfordshire (grave IF.13). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.

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Last updated 4 July 2010

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Woking News and Mail

Woking County School magazine

www.lostbombers.co.uk

Roll of Honour: Alfred Cox

Lieutenant A. E. Cox

6th Bn. Royal Norfolk Regiment

197120

Died in enemy hands, 21 September 1944, Philippines. Aged 23.

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Alfred Edwin Cox was born in 1922. The son of William Hugh and Sarah Louisa Cox of Bisley, Surrey and the brother of Annie (known to her friends and family as ‘Nan’). Nan was married to Thomas ‘Boyk’ Johnson (q.v.).

Alfred attended the William Ellis Foundation School in Gospel Oak in north London before joining the County School in September 1937 to study for his Civil Service exams. He left school in June of the following year to work with Westminster Bank in Threadneedle Street.

On June 17 1940 Alfred volunteered with the Young Soldiers Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment and received his commission in July 1941. 

After two years of training 20 year old Fred left Glasgow with his regiment aboard an American troop ship at the end of October 1941. The long route to the Far East was taken via Nova Scotia, Trinidad, Cape Town and Mombassa and they arrived in Singapore on 9 January 1942. Unfortunately their heavy equipment sailed via Bombay and did not arrive in Singapore until 15 February, just in time for the surrender.

The Norfolk's were soon in the front line attempting to halt the Japanese advance along the Malayan peninsula. They took part in the rear guard action at the Battle of Maur some 120 miles north of Singapore. It was to be the final battle of the Malay Campaign which subsequently ended with the fall of Singapore.

It is unclear at which point Fred was taken prisoner. The Norfolk's retreated to Singapore and were present when it fell on 15 July. Their commanding officer, Lt. Col. Ian Lywood who was hospitalised at the Alexandra Barracks with malaria, was murdered by the Japanese together with some 200 patients and staff.

For the next two years Fred Cox was in Japanese hands at Camp No. 2 at Songkurai in Thailand. Whilst there he contracted typhoid.

On 4 July 1944 Fred Cox and 1,285 other men were transported to Singapore and marched to the quayside where the Hofuku Maru waited. The men were British prisoners captured in Singapore and Dutch prisoners from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Some of the survivors were to later claim they had been on board the ship in the harbour since February.

The Hofuku Maru was a 5,825 ton cargo ship built about 1918. She was also variously known as the Fuji Maru or the Toyofuku Maru. She measured about 385 feet long and 51 feet at her beam. She was one of the unmarked POW transport ships used to take prisoners and troops to Japan - these ships were later known as ‘hell ships’. Once at sea these unmarked ships were at the mercy of allied attacks.

                                           

The Hofuku Maura

(Copyright National Maritime Museum)

Once the men had been herded aboard and then down into the hold of the ship all the ladders leading to the upper decks were destroyed and the hatches were battened down. The Hofuku Maru sailed out of Singapore harbour as part of convoy SHIMI-05. The convoy consisted of ten ships, five of which carried a total of about 5,000 POW’s making this the largest shipment of prisoners by the Japanese in WW2. The destination was Formosa (now Taiwan) where the men were to provide slave labour in the copper mines of Takao. It was to be a journey of some 3,000 miles.

The convoy reached Miri in Borneo on 8 July. The Hofuku Maru then left the convoy and sailed on to the Philippines unescorted. She limped into Manilla harbour on 19 July with engine trouble. She was laid up in the harbour for over two months as the engines were repaired. The prisoners still kept below decks except when receiving rations, suffered terribly. Heat, hunger and thirst took its toll. Almost all caught beri-beri or dysentery. Those not expected to last the journey were put ashore to face an uncertain fate.

Some of the sick were operated on below decks. In his book, ‘Hell In Five’, Jack Symon a comrade of Fred’s in the Royal Norfolk Regiment describes such an incident,

    ‘In that time our doctor on board who was Welsh performed an operation on one of our soldiers, something had gone wrong with his inside. This was done by candlelight in the hold and we all watched this being done. What an experience that was, to see a man’s whole stomach just lying there. Fortunately he recovered and great praise was given to our doctor, unfortunately the doctor himself died on that ship’.

On 20 September the Hofuku Maru left Manilla as part of convoy MATA-27. Of the eleven ships in the convoy she was the largest and the only one carrying prisoners. The following day the convoy had made slow progress, hugging the coast for fear of an allied attack, they had made just 80 miles.

Fast Carrier Task Force TF 38 commanded by Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher was the main strike force of the United States Navy. Spotter planes from one of her carriers came across the Hofuku Maru convoy on the morning of 21 September and a full scale attack was soon launched. The Hofuku Maru presented a large target for the force of almost 100 torpedo bombers. At about 10.30 a.m. she received direct hits from two ariel torpedoes and three bombs. She split in two and sank within five minutes.

Alfred was one of 1,047 prisoners who drowned, trapped below decks. The planes then turned their attention to the rest of the convoy and sank the remaining ten ships. Some survivors were picked up by a US submarine but the remainder swam ashore only to be re-captured by the Japanese.

The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War Two notes the Hofuku Maru (under its alternative name of Toyofuku Maru) as being an ‘army cargo ship’.

On 9 December 1946 it was gazetted that HM The King approved that Alfred be mentioned in dispatches in recognition of his ‘gallant and distinguished services whilst a prisoner of war’.

                                               

Fred Cox’s body was never recovered. He is remembered on the Singapore Memorial (column 47) and on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking. Fred was 23 years old.

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Last updated 1 September 2009

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Butterworth Collection

Special thanks to Nan Wareham for the photo of Alfred

Roll of Honour: Keith Cornish

Lance Corporal K. A. Cornish

Royal Armoured Corps (Nottinghamshire Yeomanry)

14318909

Died on active service, 19 November 1944, Germany. Aged 20.

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Keith Arthur Cornish died on 19 November 1944 aged just 20.

He was the son of Arthur Frederick and Grace Elizabeth Cornish (nee Warren) of Addlestone, Surrey.

Keith Cornish is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, near Kleve, Germany (grave 46.k.17). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.

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Last updated 20 December 2009

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Roll of Honour: Paddy Coote

 

Wing Commander P. B. Coote

211 Sqn. Royal Air Force

26155

Killed in action, 13 April 1941, Macedonia. Aged 31.

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Patric, better known as Paddy was born in Eton on 7 January 1910, one of five sons of Commander Bernard Trotter Coote OBE, RN and Mrs. Grace Coote (nee Robinson). His brothers were all Old Wokingians.

At Woking County School Paddy and his four brothers (Denis, Henry, Roderic and Philip) all excelled at sport. At the school sports day in the summer of 1923 Paddy won the Junior championship having come first in the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, hurdles, high jump, long jump and throwing the cricket ball. He first played for the school cricket team aged 13.

After leaving school and passing the boy mechanic exams for the RAF in 1923 Paddy joined the RAF in September 1926 as an aircraft apprentice. Three years later he gained a cadetship to the RAF College at Cranwell in Lincolnshire. In July 1930 he justified his selection by winning the Sword of Honour, beating classmate Douglas Bader (of ‘Reach For The Sky’ fame) in what became a two horse race. He was then posted to a fighter squadron.

His love of sport continued after joining the RAF where he was awarded colours in hockey, athletics, boxing and rugby. He was also RAF squash champion. The pinnacle of his sporting career came when he was chosen to represent Ireland in their four nations match against Scotland in April 1933. He played at centre in the 8-6 defeat at Lansdowne Road, Dublin.

In September 1931 Paddy was accepted for the flying instructors course which he passed Category A1. He returned to Cranwell as an instructor until 1933 when he was transferred to the staff at the Central Flying School at Upavon in Wiltshire. In December 1934 Paddy was appointed adjutant to a bomber squadron.

On 1 June 1935 he married Muriel Elsmie, daughter of Major General Alexander Elsmie and they set up home in Chobham. They were to have two daughters. Anne born in 1937 and Brigid born in 1939.

Paddy was promoted to Flight Lieutenant in January 1936 and in October 1936 he resumed flying duties and was posted to the Middle East as an instructor. In February 1938 he was seconded to the British Military Mission in Egypt and in October of that year was promoted to Squadron Leader. In December 1940 he was again promoted to Wing Commander of British Air Forces, Greece.

In early 1941 there was a very real threat of a German invasion of Greece. The Greeks adopted a soft approach and the RAF were only permitted to operate from Albania. Paddy was sent to 211 Squadron in Paramythia, a well hidden airfield 3,000 feet up in the mountains with only tented accommodation for the crews. He arrived on 19 February to establish an Advanced Operations Wing at the base. In spite of the spartan conditions the airfield was considered important enough to attract visits from Anthony Eden and Field Marshall Wavell (Commander Middle East forces) in February. Peter, the young exiled King of Yugoslavia was also based there at the time.

Tented accommodation at Paramythia

(Copyright RJ Dudman)

On 28 February Paddy was piloting a single seat Gloster Gladiator, the bi-plane was rapidly being rendered obsolete by the development of mono-planes yet Paddy was able to confirm his only kill of the war. He shot down another bi-plane, an Italian Fiat CR42a near the Tepelene coast in southern Albania.

On 13 April 211 Squadron undertook two raids during the morning on vehicles and troop concentrations in the Florina area near the northern Greek border under escort from Hurricanes (no resistance was encountered). 

At 1500 the unit was briefed to send six more bombers to the area. No Hurricanes were available as escort. Paddy Coote decided to go on the raid as observer to ‘have a look’ at the progress of the German advance. The formation was led by Squadron Leader Irvine, the commanding officer.

At 1605 the Blenheims approached Lake Prespa on the border of modern day Macedonia, Albania and Greece some 40 miles short of the target area. They were spotted by three Messerschmitt Bf108e’s of 6/JG27 based at Gazala in Libya. The fighters closed rapidly on the three rear Blenheims and immediately opened fire. In just four minutes all six Blenheims were shot down. The fate of the aircraft and their crews is as follows:

L8449 - Crashed near the village of Karia.

Shot down by Hauptman Hans-Joachim Gerlach.

    Flt. Lt. Alan Godfrey - Bailed out and escaped to Greece. Killed in flying accident in 1946.

    Sgt. James O’Neill - KIA.

    Sgt. Jack Wainhouse - KIA. Aged 21.

L8664 (or L8604?) - Crashed near the village of Karia.

Shot down by Unteroffizier Fritz Gromotka.*

    F/O Charles Thompson DFC - KIA.

    P/O Peter Hogarth - KIA. Aged 26.

    Flt. Sgt. Wilfred Arscott - KIA. Aged 38.

L1539 - Crashed near the SW shore of Lake Prespa.

Shot down by Feldwebel Herbert Krenz.

    Flt. Sgt. Arthur James - Bailed out but was shot down and killed two days later. Aged 22.

    Sgt. Andrew Bryce - KIA. Aged 24.

    Sgt. Arthur Waring - KIA. Aged 24.

L1434 - Ditched near SE shore of Lake Prespa.**

Shot down by Hauptman Hans-Joachim Gerlach.

    Flt. Lt. Lindsay Buchanan DFC - Died next day in hospital. Aged 24 from New Zealand.

    S/L Leslie Cryer DFC - Died next day in hospital.

    Sgt. George Pattison DFM - KIA. Aged 26.

L8478 - Crashed near the village of Vigla.

    S/L Anthony Irvine MID - KIA. Aged 27. Old Etonian.

    P/O Gerald Davies - KIA. Aged 24.

    P/O Arthur Geary DFC - KIA.

L4819 - Crashed near the village of Trigonon.

Shot down by Unteroffizier Fritz Gromotka.

    F/O Richard V. Herbert*** - Bailed out but the aircraft was too low. KIA. Aged 21.

    W/C ‘Paddy’ Coote - KIA. Aged 31.

    Flt. Sgt. William N. Young - KIA.

                                                         

Luftwaffe ace Felix Gromotka

*The first of 29 WW2 kills attributed to Fritz Gromotka.

**The remains of L1434 were recovered in 1993 and can now be seen in the Greek Air Force Museum in Athens.

*** Both Richard Herberts brothers were killed on active service.

Paddy Coote is buried in Phaleron War Cemetery, near Athens, Greece (grave 4.C.19). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking and Woodham war memorial.

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Last updated 20 December 2009

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Woking County School Magazine

London Gazette

home.freeuk.net/johndillon/index.htm

Aviation Safety Network

users.cyberone.com.au/clardo/index.html

surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/index.html

The Fight At Odds by Dennis Richards

www.irishrugby.ie

www.raf.mod.uk

Basketball

A brief history of basketball at school from the final school magazine in 1977.

Roll of Honour: Denys Cooper

Leading Airman D. A. Cooper

Royal Navy

FAA/FX 77302

Lost at sea, 17 January 1941, North Atlantic. Aged 19.

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Denys Cooper was born in 1922, the son of Cyril and Elizabeth Cooper (nee Mills) of Woking, Surrey. He left the County School in 1939 and was awarded football colours.

On 17 January 1941 he was aboard the 15,000 ton Almeda Star. She was a passenger steamship, the first to run the route to South America. When war broke out she was converted to an armed vessel to run the same route under Captain Henry Howard.

Almeda Star

On the morning of 17 January 1941 she was running in heavy seas without escort 25 miles off Rockall in the north Atlantic en route to the River Plate when she was spotted by U-96 commanded by Captain Lehmann-Willenbrock. The U-boat made three attacks on the steamship all of which were avoided by Captain Howard and his crew.

On the fourth attack she was hit by a torpedo and broadcast a distress message giving her position. She was hit by a further two torpedoes after which the U boat surfaced and fired its deck gun at the burning ship. A final torpedo hit her causing her to sink in three short minutes.

Several ships came to her rescue only to find an empty sea. No trace was ever found of the ship or its 136 crew, 29 gunners and 194 passengers.

Denys Cooper’s body was never recovered. He is remembered on the Lee-on-Solent Memorial, Hampshire and on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.

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Last updated 7 July 2009

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Woking County School Magazine

Roll of Honour: Terence Collins

Able Seaman T. F. Collins

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

CH/LDX 5312

Died of illness, 4 April 1942, Kenya. Aged 27.

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Terence Francis Collins was born in 1914. He died of illness 4 April 1942 aged 27 whilst serving aboard the light cruiser HMS Colombo.

He was the son of Francis George and Annie Marshall Collins (nee Freeman) of Woking.

HMS Colombo

Terence Collins is buried in Mombassa (Mbaraki) Cemetery, Kenya (row D, grave 20). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.

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Last updated 4 July 2010

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Woking News and Mail

www.naval-history.net