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WW2 100 – 23 January 1945 – A tragic accident in Burma: Captain Gerald Arthur Richards (1909-45), Royal Army Medical Corps

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Continued from 21 January 1945 FLIGHT SERGEANT RENNIE ARTHUR LOADER (1915-45) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), 518 Squadron https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/04/ww2-75-21-january-1945-forecasting-for.html         A photo of Gerald Arthur Richards sent to me by his daughter Louanne   Like a number of war dead whose names are not listed on Budleigh’s War Memorial,  Gerald Arthur Richards is mentioned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) as having a link with the town through his wife Kirstine. It was difficult to confirm that link, but there were enough intriguing aspects to Gerald’s story to raise questions that I wanted to see answered. Further research led to more East Devon links – to Honiton, Exmouth and further afield. In a very roundabout way I finally made contact with his daughter Louanne, to whom I am grateful for providing information about the family, not least some family photos like the...
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People from the Past: 3. Reg Varney (1916-2008)

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Reginald Alfred 'Reg' Varney was an English actor, most notable for his role as a cheerful Cockney bus driver in the 1970s TV sitcom On the Buses . For ten years he lived at Dark Lane House on picturesque Dark Lane in Budleigh Salterton, seen above.  Millions of television viewers remember him with affection. He has been described as belonging to the old school of comedians, with his dislike of much contemporary television and his pride in never using swear words to get a laugh. Varney was born on 11 July 1916 in Canning Town, which was then part of Essex but is now part of East London. His father worked in a rubber factory in Silvertown and he was one of five children who grew up in Addington Road, Canning Town. He was educated at the nearby Star Lane Primary School in West Ham and after leaving school at 14, he worked as a messenger boy at the Regent Palace Hotel, pictured above. ...
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WW2 100 – 31 August 1944 – Death of a ‘Black Cat’ in Italy: Gunner Herbert James Skinner (1916-44) 113th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

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Continued from 26 Aug 1944 DRIVER CYRIL JOHN LOCKYEAR (1918-44)         143 Field Park Squadron, the Royal Engineers   https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/03/ww2-75-26-august-1944-adopted-in.html     A news cutting from the 1944 Exmouth Journal  It’s always helpful to come across a wartime newspaper cutting about people serving in the forces who had a link to Budleigh, so this item from the Exmouth Journal telling me about Herbert was a welcome find, sad though it was in announcing his death at the age of 28. However I was puzzled by that mention of his ‘landing on the Aegean beaches’. Nowhere in the history of the Royal Artillery’s 113 rd Field Regiment have I read about its involvement in that area of the Mediterranean. Had he taken part in the Aegean campaign – an ill-judged attempt to capture Greek islands in 1943 – the chances are that he would have been killed or taken prisoner.   Budleigh Salterton's...
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