Lympstone’s sacrifice for wartime effort

Village’s sons lost in action – Matt Smith reports

• Bernard Palfrey, 20, of Sowdenia, Lympstone, who died of his wounds while fighting the Japanese in Burma.

Our two part trip back into Lympstone village life from 1928 to 1945 as unearthed by Angela Coles, of Birch Road, continues...

War came to Lympstone in 1939. The village’s sleepy tranquillity was smashed as many of its sons were lost in the battle to defeat Nazi Germany.

The village home guard unit was formed, blackouts and rationing were imposed and German bombers flew overhead on their way to Plymouth and Exeter.

These wartime stories, discovered by amateur historian Mrs Coles, are retold again here….

September 23, 1939

WORLD War Two claimed its first Lympstone casualties just two weeks into the conflict.

Marine George Cornish, of Underhill, drowned when German u-boats torpedoed HMS Courageous 350 miles off Land’s End.

Mr Cornish was one of 576 sailors to lose their lives in the attack. He left a wife and five children and was a veteran of the First World War.

March 2, 1940

A Lympstone Sunday school teacher escaped conscription into the armed forces after convincing a tribunal he was a conscientious objector.

William Bastin, 23, of the Ridges, was a baker’s van man. He said he could not take any part in the war because it was contrary to his beliefs. His objection even extended to non-combatant work in the army because it was part of the war organisation.

Mr Bastin was granted conditional exemption provided he remained in his job.

Jan 11, 1941

The privations of war were frustrating for many Britons, from the rationing of food, clothes and petrol, to nightly blackouts.

And the latter proved too much for one Lympstone woman when she refused to obey a policeman’s order to turn off a light in her home.

Exmouth magistrates heard how Mildred Packard, of Western Home, told the policeman: “I’m sorry, I don’t care. You can fine me. I am fed up.”

The JPs agreed and fined her £2.

May 9, 1942

A former member of the Lympstone Boys’ Brigade was killed while serving with the Royal Engineers. Leonard Soper, 22, died in combat.

September 26, 1942

It was announced that Lympstone residents’ tireless fundraising had netted £102 19s 11d for the Red Cross.

The money was raised through a penny-a-week scheme. Villagers were urged to turn out their weekly coppers because more money was needed for aid to Russia and prisoners of war.

• Lympstone home guard: Back row (l-r) Lloyd England, George Morrish, Vick Norton, Tom Stamps Front row Alf Langmead, Jack Haydon, Cap. Young, Dick Adams, Fred Blight, Richard Vanstone.

October 3, 1942

Prayers were said for a Lympstone man missing in action.

War-time censorship meant no more details were offered on the disappearance of pilot Bill Randle, 21, of Barn Close.

Mr Randle was a former pupil at Exmouth Grammar School. He joined the RAF in February 1941 and received his wings in June that year after undergoing training in the USA.

He was posted to Bomber Command as first pilot of a Wellington bomber and had flown 25 operations over Germany by the time he disappeared, including raids on Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Bremen and Essen.

Mr Randle was praised by his superiors for his coolness in difficult situations. On one occasion he managed to safely land his plane, despite it being on fire, while his crew discharged the plane’s bombs just three seconds before fire would have engulfed them.

October 31, 1942

There was much rejoicing in Lympstone with the news that missing pilot Bill Randle was safe and back in England.

Again, no details were released of how Bill made it back to the UK, but it was revealed that one of Bill’s crew was now a prisoner of war.

Bill’s family had been inundated with letters of support from his old school friends, all confident he would emerge unscathed.

One said: “When he was at school, Bill was always a genius at getting out of trouble.”

Bill sent his mother a telegram to wish her a happy birthday on October 24.

April 24, 1943

War may have forever changed the lives of Lympstone’s human residents, but for the birds on the River Exe it was business as usual.

Mad-keen bird watcher and village resident Richard Adams reported a bumper flock of golden-eyed ducks on the estuary. Eight of these birds wintered there in 1943, compared to just three in previous years.

The smew, a species of duck, also returned to the river. This breed of diving duck was normally only seen during harsh winters, but 1943 saw a male and three females nest on the Exe.

May 1, 1943

Lympstone staged a flag day to raise money for the United Aid to China Fund.
The parish council also organised a whist drive and the two events netted £51 8s 5d.

June 19, 1943

Lympstone First Boys’ Brigade celebrated its diamond jubilee.
The group staged a display featuring club swinging, physical training, parallel bars and singing.

September 11, 1943

The funeral of a village war-hero was held. Lieutenant Arthur Lennard was second in command of the Lympstone home guard, a position he had held since the force’s inception in May 1940.

Mr Lennard served in the Royal Navy during World War One and lost a leg as a result of severe wounds.

After the war, an accident permanently damaged his remaining foot, but despite his misfortune he was renowned for his cheery nature.
More than 50 people attended his funeral.

April 15, 1944

Thieves broke into Lympstone railway station. They got in through a window and tried to force open the safe, but failed and so left with ‘little booty’.

May 13, 1944

A potato shaped like a pig helped Lympstone’s Mrs Vanstone raise £1 5s 1d for the British Red Cross Society. Mrs Vanstone also exhibited another potato shaped like a rat.

June 10, 1944

Lympstone staged Salute the Solider Week. The week began with a dance at the village hall, followed by a coffee morning the next day and a display by the boys’ brigade in the evening.

Lympstone Home Guard staged a procession through the village to Cliff Field, while children from the village primary school followed with a fancy dress parade.
Some of the prize winners were Dorothy Vickery (Russian peasant maid), Brenda Hutchings (newspaper boy), Christine Litton (Miss America), May Stone (Red Cross nurse), and Alan Rolls (Indian brave).

The festival’s climax was a whist drive on the Saturday night.

The previous week, the annual Furry Dance raised £26 1s for the Lympstone’s Prisoners of War Fund.

The Topsham Band headed the dance, which was again led by Mr T Kerslake and Mrs C Tolman.

June 24, 1944

Sympathy was offered to the family of Bernard Palfrey, 20, of Sowdenia, Lympstone, who died of his wounds while fighting the Japanese in Burma.
He joined the army in December 1942 and was sent to Asia as part of the Devonshire Regiment.

Prior to joining up he worked for village philanthropist Sir Garbutt Knott at Courtlands.

His twin brother Rodney was serving in the RAF in Rhodesia.

July 29, 1944

Lympstone lost another son when Private Ralph Bennett, 23, was killed fighting in Normandy.

Mr Bennett was serving in an airborne division. He was a former member of Lympstone Football Club.

• CARNIVAL ATMOSPHERE: VE Day celebrations outside the Swan Inn, formerly the Railway Hotel.

June 15, 1945

Lympstone’s war heros were welcomed home at a victory dinner at the village hall.

Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Peters was joined by more than 150 guests. The meal began in respectful silence while the names of villagers who had lost their lives in combat during the war were read out.

Sir Arthur said: “There is a spirit abroad that is apt to forget and belittle our magnificent victory. That is, perhaps, rather natural, and due to shortages of food and materials, inconvenience and hardships and rationing.

“But at the same time it only requires a moment’s contemplation of what would have been their lot had we not achieved victory to realise how utterly thankful they should be. So this victory should be a time of very great rejoicing.”

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