Secret WW2

Saturday, 11th October 2025 – plaque and information board unveiling to commemorate STS 1, Brockhall. This project was initiated by Ashley Barnett, Trustee and Treasurer and subsequently supported by Paul McCue. The first part of the day involved an 11am commemorative service and the unveiling of a small (required as such to be in keeping with two existing plaques) plaque at St Peter and St Paul church, Brockhall, Northampton NN7 4JY. The church is immediately adjacent to the hall, where all participants were kindly allowed to park – and to be group-photographed. An excellent church service was given by Rev. Stephen Burrow. We enjoyed military representation from the British Army’s Intelligence Corps, the defence teams of the US Embassy (Colonel Mike “MB” Brown, USAF and his wife, Rebecca) and the French Embassy (Lieutenant de Vaisseau (r) Thierry Ferrus) and Dr John Luckit, Volunteer Consul of the Royal Thai Embassy, London and member of the Anglo-Thai Society. Dr Luckit was joined in representing Thailand by his wife, Frances, also a member of the Anglo-Thai Society and its Chair, Steve Buckley. Padej (Pad) Kumlertsakul, Adviser for Overseas & Defence at The National Archives, Kew, London was a welcome addition and expert on matters Thai – a first group of 35 or so ‘Free Thais’ were recruited by SOE and most received initial training at STS 1, Brockhall in 1942. Kay Walker represented the FANY (PRVC). SECRET WW2 attendees were (Chair and Trustees) Louisa Russell, Paul McCue and Ashley Barnett, together with volunteer Meryl Jones, Rachelle Barnett, Ray Windmill and (also representing the Harrington Aviation Museum) https://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/ Clive Bassett. After the church service we relocated three miles to The Depot, Weedon Bec as it is here, in the site’s Visitor Centre, that our information board will be displayed, in order for it to be seen by the many visitors to the Centre – in contrast to the isolated location of Brockhall itself. See: The Visitor Centre - The Depot https://the-depot.uk/the-visitor-centre/ We were very grateful to Doreen Addicott, leading light at The Visitor Centre, for agreeing to host our information board and supporting leaflets, of which a supply was also provided for the church. The history of STS 1 is set out further on in this newsletter. Doreen mentioned that the Centre had recently had a return visit from someone who, several years ago, was in the C5 television team that conducted a dig on the site of The Depot. Their finds had included a German machine pistol and a container of the type dropped into occupied Europe. As they seemed to have no relevance to the main history of The Depot, they were reburied on site. But the depot was used throughout WW2 and, being only a short distance from STS 1, may have held arms, ammunition etc for the SOE establishment.

Special Fundraising event at Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, 18th October 2025. From Sheryl Green, Friend of Secret WW2 and Chair of the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum (TMAM) This event was in aid of a memorial dedicated to two Special Duties pilots, Stephen Hankey and James McBride, who died when their aircraft crashed due to fog as they attempted to return to RAF Tangmere. Hankey’s two BCRA agents died with him, while McBride’s French Resistance passengers miraculously survived. Despite their valiant attempts, they couldn’t save their pilot. The two BCRA agents were the highly-decorated Albert Kohan and Jacques Tayar. They are buried at Brookwood Cemetery, while Hankey is buried in St. George’s churchyard, Crowhurst and McBride in Chichester Cemetery. Guests to the private event in the afternoon included the sons (and one daughter and one nephew) of some of the 161 (Special Duties) Squadron pilots and several representatives of SECRET WW2. Over lunch they were able to mingle, and it was lovely to see old acquaintances refreshed and new ones formed. After lunch, Ian Titman-Read and Anne Alexandre gave their presentation, their second performance of the day as it had been made available more generally in the morning. With their combined knowledge and Ian’s IT skills, creating a ‘hybrid’ presentation of film clips, stills and audio, this was a superb presentation. Ian and Anne had invested many hours creating it, editing it, rehearsing, then re-editing: a most generous commitment of their time and effort. Everyone was enthralled and deeply moved. Even people who pride themselves on their knowledge of the subject went away delighted to have discovered new details and stories. It was then time to move to the Memorial Garden for the unveiling of the memorial in a short but sweet ceremony. In my comments as the stone was about to be revealed, I was careful to state that while this memorial was dedicated to these particular pilots and agents, at the Tangmere Museum the memory of all the SD pilots, and the various agents they ferried, is held dear and revered. This applies to both those who did and did not survive the War, for all were all prepared to take the same risks and faced the same danger. Stephen Hankey’s nephew and his wife were visibly moved by the memorial, as they had been by the presentation, when for the first time they learned about the circumstances of his crash including the location of the crash site. Unable to trace any relatives of McBride, he was represented by Iain McGowan of Strathalan school where in the 1930s McBride and his brother had studied. Once dispersed from the Memorial Garden, a few of us went on to Chichester Cemetery to lay a wreath on young McBride’s grave. A poignant moment, for at last this unsung hero had been fully and appropriately recognised for his sacrifice.

Saturday and Sunday, 13th and 14th September 2025, 11 am and 2.30 pm each day - presentations by SECRET WW2 members on SOE agents at STS 5, Wanborough Manor, supporting the SOE and local history exhibitions in the Wanborough Great Barn, near Guildford, Surrey. This was our annual appearance at the Heritage Open Days run by those wonderful volunteers at the Wanborough Great Barn in Surrey (adjacent to Wanborough Manor, SOE's former STS 5). Our own volunteers delivering PowerPoint presentations (two each day) on Wanborough-relevant F Section agents were Carol Browne (re Pickersgill and Macalister) and Meryl Jones (re Vera Leigh). A total audience of some 150 was welcomed, including former BBC newsreader Michael Buerk. Well done, Meryl and Carol.

Sunday, 7th September 2025 - annual commemoration of Jewish ‘secret war’ casualties, Brookwood Memorial to the Missing, 1939-45, Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. Several SECRET WW2 representatives joined members of AJEX https://www.ajex.org.uk/ (led by Mike Bluestone – national Honorary President and Norman Grant of the Brighton and Hove branch) at this annual ceremony at Brookwood, also attended by the Defence and Armed Forces Attaché and Assistant Defence and Armed Forces Attaché from the Israeli Embassy in London. Messages from family members of the ‘23 Who Went Down With the Ship’ of Operation BOATSWAIN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Boatswain and the Jewish agents of SOE were read out by Paul McCue who also gave a short presentation on the Memorial to the Missing and the Jewish personnel of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who are listed on it, including SOE’s 23 Palmach volunteers - the Kaf Gimel Yordei Ha Sira. Paul made additional mention of the loss of the lives of 140 Jewish servicemen, serving in the British Army, who were on the SS Erinpura troopship when it was sunk in the Mediterranean on 1st May 1943. All are listed on Brookwood’s Memorial to the Missing 1939-45. Wreaths were placed by the Defence Attaché and by Louisa Russell, Chair of Trustees. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was represented by Alex Cadle, Horticultural and Sustainability Manager, who also placed a wreath. Among those present was Ian Sharer and his wife. Ian is a family member of Captain Lionel Lee MC of F Section SOE, listed on the Memorial as having no known grave, believed executed at Gross Rosen concentration camp in the summer of 1944. As usual, the SECRET WW2 commemoration at the Memorial to the Missing 1939-45 was followed by attendance at the monthly ceremony organised by the Brookwood Last Post Association and refreshments were made available afterwards at the adjacent Trench Experience by our volunteer, Eddie Jones.

“We start with Nazi Germany’s occupation of Norway during World War Two by hearing about a secret resistance operation known as ‘The Shetland Bus’ … “

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