Pilot Officer Awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross Pilot Officer R.F.L. Tong Among a number of awards approved by the King is the Distinguished Flying Cross to Pilot Officer Roland Frederick Leonard Tong, Royal Air Force, Volunteer Reserve, No. 57 Squadron. Born in Bromley in 1917, he is the son of Mr and Mrs P.C. Tong, S, Upper Park Road, and an Old Boy of the county School, Hayes Lane. Afterwards he was on the staff of the West Minister Bank (Lower Sloane Street branch). He enlisted in June 1940, and…
Category: Extracts
Thomas Holloway
Sergeant Thomas Holloway Chislehurst Sergeant’s Letter Sergeant Thomas Holloway, R.A.F., of 11 Church row, Chislehurst, who has been a prisoner of war in Germany since May 1940, has written home to his mother in Chislehurst giving of how he and his new found friends spent Christmas Day in a German prison camp. In his letter he said that they had a grand time on Christmas Eve decorating their hut and setting up a fine Christmas tree adorned with fairy lights, tinsel, and the usual decorations. About 250 communicants attended a…
Night’s Heavy Blitz – April 1941
Night’s Heavy Blitz – April 1941 This report describes the aftermath of a heavy night of bombing on the town of Bromley in Kent on 16th April 1941. Due to government censorship of newspapers at the time, no exact location is given, other than a South-East residential location, but we now know this location to be Bromley, St Peter’s and St Pauls’ as the parish church which was destroyed, and the furniture depository being Dunn’s of Bromley which was located on Market Square. Heavy Bombs and Incendiaries in a residential…
Prisoners of Singapore (WW2)
Singapore Prisoners of War During World War II, following the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese military held some 50,000 Allied Soldiers, predominantly British and Australian in a Prisoner of War camp in the Changi area. During the first few months there was little news, then came the reports of the missing. Finally, after months came reports of men being held as prisoners of war. Personally I found it very upsetting. The first reports came sometimes over a radio broadcast or in the form of a postcard. In…
Albert Bailey
Some time since we reported that no news had been received since Christmas, 1914, of Lance-Corporal Albert Bailey, son of Mr Bailey of Pound Place, Eltham. Although from his long silence the worst was feared, hope was not entirely given up, and his brother in Roper Street, Eltham, addressed inquiries to the German authorities, in the hope that he was a prisoner. the only reply has now come back that nothing is known of him in Germany, and it is not to be concluded that he was killed. Lance-Corporal Bailey,…
Arthur James Smith
Presumed Killed Lieutenant A.J. Smith In June 1940, Mrs Smith, 58 Freeland Road, Bromley, received news that her husband, Lieutenant A.J. Smith, The Buffs, was missing, believed killed. He was serving in France in May of that year, and when last seen was wounded. A communication has now been received by Mrs Smith stating that her husband is presumed to have been killed in action in May 1940. Lieutenant Smith, the son of Mr. W. Smith, 28 north Road, Bromley, served in the last warm and was wounded. In 9123…
Stephen J. Masters
Missing Lieutenant S.J. Masters, Chislehurst Mr and Mrs C. Masters, of Ridgemount, Leesons, Chislehurst, have been informed by the War Office that their son, Lieutenant Stephen J. Masters, The Suffolk Regiment, was serving in Malaya up to the date when Singapore capitulated, and is posted as missing until some definite information is received. It is hoped that he may be a prisoner of war. Lieutenant Masters was educated at Eltham College, where he was a good all-round sportsman. On leaving school he joined the Royal Exchange Assurance. He enlisted in…
Bert Whitehead
Prisoner of War Private Bert Whitehead Private Bert Whitehead, son of Mr and Mrs J. Whitehead, 13 Holbrook Way, Bromley, is a prisoner of war in Germany at Stalag XXB 34. He is 23 years of age, and has had three birthdays away from home. His parents hear from him regularly, and he appears to be well and cheerful. Born in Bromley, Private Whitehead was educated at Bromley Common (Holy Trinity) School, when Mr E.C. De’Ath (now a member of the Town Council) was head master, and afterwards at Raglan…
Nurse K.E. Stacey
Nurse from Green Street Green awarded for her services to The Red Cross during World War One The Royal Red Cross The distinction of being the only trained nurse to go abroad from the village of Green Street Green during the war belongs to Miss K.E. Stacey, eldest daughter of the late Mr James Stacey of Green Street Green, and on Wednesday last week, at Maidstone, in recognition of very valuable work, she was decorated with the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class. Sister Stacey, who served in Malta and Salonika,…
Mrs Fraser-Harris joins Munition Making at 62
62 year old lady proves she’s just as capable as her younger counterparts Munition Making at 62 Lady Workers’ 10 Hours a Day At a local factory engaged on Government work, a well educated and widely travelled lady of 62 has, for the last five months, been working from eight in the morning until a quarter to seven at night on a drilling machine. She is Mrs Eleanor Fraser-Harris, who has left her charming home in Maresfield, Sussex, in order that she may live near near work. In an interview…