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...

Continued from 26 Feb 1944 ‘He died that others might have a future’: FLIGHT SERGEANT ALLAN EDWARD DEARLOVE DAVEY (1922-44) RAAF, RAF 90 Squadron     https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/02/ww2-75-26-february-1944-he-died-that.html     L-r: WW1 veteran James Jethro Critchard’s military grave and the name of his son Reginald, a victim of WW2, on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial at the junction of Coastguard Road and Salting Hill Every picture tells a story: this one tells a double family tragedy, showing the grave of James Jethro Critchard in St Peter’s Burial Ground, Budleigh Salterton, next to the name of his son Reginald Leonard on the town’s War Memorial. Reginald Leonard never knew his father. Evidently a victim of WW1, James Jethro is listed as one of the casualties of the 1914-18 conflict by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which notes him as Stoker 1 st Class in the Royal Navy. However, his name does not appear in the WW1 lis...