pjpsaint66
pjpsaint66
Travel blog - Europe
2019
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Runnymede Air Memorial. Note the central tower - shaped like a control tower - has a great view over the Thames and Heathrow airport.
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Sunday 15 September 2019 Paris to London
This morning was an early Eurostar to London, arriving around 10.30am
After dropping off bags at my Paddington hotel, and after deciding that paying over $250 was too much for a partial day at the Ashes fourth day, I went by tube to the Waterloo Railway station and then out by rail to the village of Egham. After a restorative ale at a lovely village pub, a 30 minute walk followed to the Runnymede Air Memorial with the names of the 20,000 Commonwealth airforce personnel who died in the WWII without a grave in the waters of the Atlantic and the land over Europe. I had been there a number of years ago but had a couple of extra Solomon Family names to photograph (Russell Curzon and Jack Alexander).
On returning, the last station before Waterloo was Vauxhall, so on a whim I got out to see if I could get into the last hour or so of the test at the Oval. Four wickets left and about 180 runs to go was not a good equation. The place was still locked up by security, but I found a spot where you could get a partial view of the ground - there were about ten of us looking on. After about 20 minutes I moved on and returned to the hotel for a quiet night – and Australia was bowled out.
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14 September 2019 To Paris
To begin at the end.
We arrived in Paris and after navigating through the Saturday mid-afternoon traffic to the hire car location we handed back the keys after completing 5,685 kms in 17 days. No accidents; no illnesses; no arguments; no dramas (well none that we couldn’t deal with – such as ending up the wrong way in a couple of one-way streets); and we ticked off all the locations and activities that had been planned and probably did a couple extra. And the weather generally very kind to us.
We did what all red-blooded males should do straight after such a trip and went shopping. Galleries Layette has a very handy special on cashmere jumpers!
I then walked to the Notre Dame to see the situation following the fire earlier this year. It is fascinating to see the rebuilding works along the nave and rear of the church – it gives you the sensation of seeing it built for the first time.
Then a very nice dinner to celebrate and then back to the hotel to start the recovery process!
The day started just outside of Le Treport visiting the Mont Huon Military cemetery and the grave of Private William Deane, 22nd Battalion, another of my Christ Church South Yarra men. A closed road to the cemetery was a challenge, but we got there. He enlisted 30 April 1917 with the Machine Gun Company 2, Reinforcement number 14. The unit embarked from Melbourne on 30 October 1917. He arrived in France in April 1918; wounded in May 1918 in arm and time in hospitals. Returned to battalion 5 July 2018 and gassed in mid-July 1918 in a large and prolonged German gas attack in the VB area with over 200 impacted. Died in hospital 3 August 1918 from cerebrospinal meningitis whilst suffering from the gassing. Age 22.
We also visited the grave of a Private Hurdis. Last year his head was reunited with the rest of his body. If you find this story of interest go to: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/australian-soldiers-skull-taken-from-us-museum-and-buried-with-remains-in-france. Thanks to Danielle R for the information.
Further inland and in beautiful rolling country of Normandy at Grandcourt War Cemetery, is Flying Officer Clifford Clark Heathcote (OW1932) RAAF 401440 No. 247 Squadron (RAF). Age 23, died 14 January 1944. He enlisted 5 December 1941; arrived in the UK on 4 February 1943 and joined the 247 Sqn on 18 November 1943. It is a small cemetery with about 60 graves in a rural setting. Flying a Hawker Typhoon (a single seater ground attack aircraft) on a 98-plane bombing raid from RAF Merston on Doudeville. A report was that his plane was impacted by debris from explosion over target. His body removed by Germans from the wreckage and buried the following day. http://aircrewremembered.com/heathcote-clifford-clark.html
We continued our return drive to Paris – one more person to locate – and a Victoria Cross related action. At the Marisell French National Cemetery Beauvais, is the grave of Flight Sergeant Vernon Leeder (OW1928) RAAF 419272. No. 635 Squadron (RAF). Age 28, died 4 August 1944. Enlisted 17 July 1942; in UK on 7 July 1943. Assigned to 102 Sqn in January 1944 and then to 635 Sqn on 30 June 1944. He was an air gunner in Lancaster ND811 F2-T in Operation Trossy-St. Maxim, a day attack of 291 aircraft to bomb a V1 flying bomb storage depot. His plane was hit by flak, knocking out both starboard engines and causing a fire in the fuselage. The pilot, Sqd Ldr Bazalgette, pressed on since he was the deputy master bomber and the master bomber had already been shot down. He succeeded in marking the target accurately despite the damage to his aircraft, after which he ordered the crew to abandon and then attempted a crash-landing. Exploded as it touched down, killing the pilot and the two wounded crew members (one being Leeder who was overcome by fumes). Bazalgette was posthumously awarded a VC for his devotion to duty on this raid. https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/leeder-vvr/
Bazalgette is buried at the churchyard at Senantes, a village very close to the crash and Leeder and Hibbert are buried about 20kms away at Marisell.
Research revealed that there was a road side memorial where the plane crashed. So, with some co-ordinates and a bit of help from Google, we located the memorial beside the D167 next to a paddock with some very curious cows. The memorial was well tended with flowers - possibly from a recent anniversary commemoration for the crash.
So, having completed our last cemetery visit we headed to Paris – just over an hour away.
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Friday 13 September 2019 The Somme to Le Treport
We left Martinpuich after 9am with grey skies, and headed north west. After about 60kms was the Barlin Communal Cemetery Extension and the grave of Captain Lewis Nathan, Canadian Army number 27108. A member of the Solomon family he enlisted 19 September 1914 with the Canadian 15th Battalion and sailed for England the following month. He was promoted over time to the rank of captain by 14 April 1917. At the time of his death he was with the 1st Battalion (Western Ontario Regiment), but attached to the HQ of 1st Division. He died of wounds to the legs from a bomb on 4 June 1917 at the 6th Casualty Clearing Station - two months after the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The headstones in this cemetery are quite weathered and generally difficult to read. Another feature of this cemetery is that the commissioned officers are buried together in their own rows. You see this at a number of cemeteries.
We then drove another 60 kms to the north east, getting close to Calais. We arrived at the village of Eperlecques at what is known as Le Blockhaus, being a German base for the V2 rockets program in WWII. What is available to view and walk through is a huge concrete structure that was built in 1943/44 using large numbers of forced labour from countries under German control. Allied bombing meant that the structure was never used for it intended use of production of liquid rocket fuel and a launchpad for the V2 rocket. But the scale of the structure is huge and a reminder of the efforts of the Nazi’s to achieve their objectives.
A short distance on and just to the south west of Calais is the Pihen-les-Guines Communal Cemetery, and the grave of Flight Lieutenant Richard Arthur Oakley (OW1927) RAAF 215. No. 217 Squadron Age 23, died 1 February 1941. Flying a Beaufort I L9835 MW-W from Cornwall, England, with three crew, to bomb the Admiral Hipper in dry dock at the French port of Brest. The plane was reportedly hit by anti-aircraft fire and while attempting to return to England crashed into the Channel. His body was washed ashore some weeks later; there was no trace of the other crew.http://aircrewremembered.com/oakley-richard-arthur.html.
We then drove onto the French coast at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, to visit the grave of Sgt Samuel Archie Saunders, AIF Service number 6831. He was the son of John Barnet Saunders and Rachel (nee Solomon) of Prospect, South Australia. He enlisted 5 January 1915, initially a driver with AASC, transferred to 14th Coy Australian Machine Gun Corps in April 1916 and arrived in France 26 June 1916. He died on 14 August 1916 of gunshot wounds to the arms and chest incurred on 20 July 1915 (Battle of Fromelles) at No 13 General Hospital, Boulogne. Age at death: 29 years. The WWI headstones at Boulogne, and some of the other coastal hospital cemeteries, are laid flat on the ground apparently due to issues with the soil.
We then headed to our destination for the day being the coastal city of Le Treport. As we drove south we visited the Etaples War Cemetery. This is the largest CWGC WWI cemetery in France (over 10,000 graves) and in my view one of the top cemeteries for it presentation and presence.
A simple fish dinner at a Le Treport restaurant, followed by a walk out to the harbour entrance. The striking feature of Le Treport are its chalk cliffs, but the style of the residences in the old city is also worth a look.
Tomorrow is the last day of “Le Tour 2019” and we will start with a military cemetery just out of Le Treport. The weather is on the improve and its promises to be warm and sunny.
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