Budleigh Past and Present

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 one above. Gerry, as he was kno

How the real-life ‘M’ of Ian Fleming’s novels planned a survival strategy with local resident Murray Levick during WW2.      The poster that I designed for the 2011-12 exhibition Fairlynch Museum’s 2011-12 exhibition,   entitled   ‘Survival!’, featured the extraordinary experiences of Antarctic explorer Murray Levick. This remarkable Budleigh resident’s expertise proved vital during WW2. When he was well into his sixties he came out of retirement to work on the same secret operation as James Bond creator Ian Fleming.   Levick skins a penguin on board the Terra Nova , part of Robert Falcon Scott’s last Antarctic expedition of 1910-13. Photo by Herbert Ponting (Ponting Collection: Reference P2005/5/911); Wikipedia More than 20 years ago after his polar experience, Murray Levick’s reputation as an expert in survival in hostile environments was such that at the outbreak of war he was asked by the Government to instruct commandos in the art of survival. He was still extremely fit