Bookham War Memorials - WWII Plaque, St Nicolas' Church


The WWII plaque with the WWI plaque above and the Parish Book of Remembrance below it.

Where a name is hyperlinked this is to what appears to be the
relevant record in the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
(CWGC) database or to a page about the person.
# see
Notes for more detail or comment on the inscription.

1939-1945

P/O FC ASHLEY
21 Squadron
Age 21
MALTA MEMORIAL
L/Cpl A AYRES
1st Bn, The Queen's Royal Regiment
(West Surrey)
Age 24

RANGOON MEMORIAL/MYA
LAC EDWARD GODFREY CARTER
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Age 19
TORONTO (PROSPECT) CEMY/CAN
2nd Lt MALCOLM CHARLES CANDY
1st/7th Bn, The Queen's Royal Regiment
(West Surrey)
Age 26
HEVERLEE WAR CEMETERY/B
P/O JOHN CHARLES CUNNINGHAM story
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
50 Squadron
Age 24

buried St Nicolas
Wg Cdr PETER ANDREW KLEBOE
DSO DFC AFC
story
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
21 Squadron
Age 28
COPENHAGEN (BISPEBJERG) CEMY/DEN
Sgt DENNIS GORDON LONGHURST #
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Age unknown
RAMLEH WAR CEMY
Dvr CHARLES ADOLPHUS MOORE
Royal Army Service Corps
Age 46
buried St Nicolas
Gnr EDWARD ARTHUR OVENS
139 Field Regt
Royal Artillery
Age 21
TAUKKYAN WAR CEMETERY/MYA
D POPE #

AB RONALD CHARLES RANGER #
Royal Navy
HMS Acheron
Age unknown
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL
P/O GORDON HENRY STEPHENS #
Royal Navy
HMS Nabob
Age 21
DUNFERMLINE (DOUGLAS BANK) CEMY
DP TOUCH #

AJ WHITE #


NOTES

Name: LONGHURST, DENNIS GORDON
Initials: D G
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Date of Death: 02/08/1945
Service No: 1866479
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: 7. B. 4.
Cemetery: RAMLEH WAR CEMETERY
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2220000/
The only WWII DG Longhurst on CWGC.
More information is sought to relate him to Bookham.

POPE, D - none of the D Popes on CWGC relate to this area.
More information about him is sought.

RANGER, R - none of the R Rangers on CWGC relate to this area.
3 Mar 09: Bill Whitman - Ron Ranger is remembered on family memorial in the churchyard with Ernest, died 01/07/45 age 64 and Edith Annie, died 12/01/54 age 71. Ron was lost at sea 17/12/1940. The only R Ranger who died in 1940 on CWGC is Able Seaman Ronald Charles Ranger and so he is matched. He was lost with his A Class destroyer, HMS Acheron, sunk by a mine off the Isle of Wight with the loss of 196 lives.
More detail about his time in Bookham sought.

STEPHENS, GORDON HENRY
HMS Nabob was a Ruler Class Escort Carrier. On August 22 1944 in the Barents Sea she was struck by an acoustic torpedo fired by U-354 which critically damaged her. Eventually, under her own steam, she was able to make Scapa Flow for emergency repairs and then dry dock at Rosyth where the remains of 14 of her dead were removed. Gordon Stephens is buried at Dunfermline.
http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/ESCORT/NABOB.htm

TOUCH, DP - there is no-one with this surname on CWGC for WWII.
There is however an entry for a DP Tough:
Name: TOUGH, DOUGLAS POLLOCK
Initials: D P
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Flight Lieutenant
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Unit Text: 105 Sqdn.
Date of Death: 19/03/1945
Service No: 123616
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 266.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Although it seems unlikely that an error was made in the inscription, such errors did occur.
He was an Old Boy of Sutton High School, Plymouth:
http://www.oldsuttonians.org.uk/deceased%20suttonians%20N.htm
More information about Touch or Tough is sought.

Name: WHITE, ALFRED JOHN
Initials: A J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Guardsman
Regiment/Service: Coldstream Guards
Unit Text: 3rd Bn.
Age: 23
Date of Death: 08/11/1944
Service No: 2666023
Additional information: Son of John James White and Elizabeth Patience White; husband of Eunice White, of Leatherhead, Surrey.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: II, C, 17.
Cemetery: CASTIGLIONE SOUTH AFRICAN CEMETERY
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1715490/
None of the 25 other AJ Whites on CWGC reveal a local connection.
More information is sought to relate him to Bookham.


Other Gt Bookham WWII deaths recorded on CWGC

SIMMS, JOHN age14: died 30/08/1940: of 2 East Street, Great Bookham. Son of J. Simms, and of the late Alfred Simms.
Died at Reigate Road Leatherhead when a fleeing German bomber dropped its remaining bombs, killing John Simms and a Leatherhead postman, an Old Contemptible, Mr Frederick Hatchwell, aged 57, who is buried at SS Mary & Nicholas, Leatherhead.

3 Mar 09: Bill Whitman - according to St Nicolas's Burial Register, John Simms is buried with, presumably, his mother Isabella who died in 1963. No memorial. John’s date of death is given as 1940, age 14.

WINFIELD, WILFRED VICTOR age 45: died 28/02/1945: Police War Reserve. Husband of Lydia Ann Winfield of Newlyn, Dowlans Road, Great Bookham. Died at Newlyn, Dowlans Road, from an illness contracted while on war duties.

3 Mar 09: Bill Whitman - according to St Nicolas's Burial Register, William Winfield [in my transcription of the register, not Wilfred as it is written on stone]; died 28 Feb 1945, age 45. “In loving memory of Wilfred dearly loved husband of Lydia Winfield. Entered into rest 28 Feb 1945”


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page added 14 Feb 2009: updated 10 Mar 2009: CWGC links updated 10 Nov 17