Kohima Epitaph and Remembrance

When you go home, tell them of us and say,

For your tomorrow, we gave our today.

This is engraved on a War Memorial in Burma, commemorating those who died in the Battle of Kohima in 1944 and was adapted by Major John Etty-Leal from the original;

When you go home, tell them of us and say,

For your tomorrows, these gave their today.

This is one of four epitaphs written as suggested inscriptions for War Memorials by John Maxwell Edmonds in 1919 and published in The Times.

This seems very apt to me when we know that there must have been some RN Meteorologists who gave their lives for their country during World War Two, but, we have no idea who they were. Consulting the original lists of war dead has revealed many sailors who did not come back, but all are recorded as Naval Airmen with no reference to their branch specialism. I will keep looking in the hope that something will come to light. Meanwhile if any of our members have any knowledge please contact me.

It is that time of year when we would ask our members to reflect on those unknown members of the branch who are no longer with us, along with those we have recorded in Departed Shipmates. We do have one member of the branch recorded for posterity on the wall of the Armed Forces Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Robert (Red) Skelton was sadly killed in a helicopter crash at RNAS Brawdy in 1963. He served in the Met Branch and then as aircrew from 1954-1963.

These people really did give their today for our tomorrow.

We will remember them

William Bastian and World War Two

Following on from the article about the Kohima Epitaph has come information on a member of the Met Branch who was killed during WW2. This information was supplied by Dave Hadland, an ex member of the branch who happened to spot William Bastian tucked away right at the top of the Lee-on-Solent War Memorial; originally erected to list all those members of the FAA who were killed during WW2 and have no known grave. Although at this time members of the Met Branch were known as seamen (met) – the branch did not become part of the FAA until after the war – they worked ashore at air stations and at sea on carriers and other ships that carried planes and as such were, quite rightly, honoured with the Fleet Air Arm.

Able Seaman (Met) William Briant Bastion was recorded as missing, presumed Killed when U155 torpedoed HMS Avenger, an escort carrier, on 15 November 1942; he was 32 years of age. Little else is known about him or whether there were any more seamen (met) aboard HMS Avenger with him, possibly not as the complement on board ships early in the war was generally for one Seaman Q(Met) or one Seaman (Met) by 1942. (See Lee-on-Solent in the Met Schools section for further details).

A little more digging after Dave had come forward with the initial information revealed enough information to give the above detail and thanks to Peter Claridge, his bike and a step ladder we now have photographs of the FAA Memorial at Lee-on-Solent showing the inscription for William Bastion. It is fairly safe to assume that William was not the only member of the branch to give his life, but, unfortunately to date there is no record of these men due to the only branch description being recorded is seaman without reference to the sub-branch. This does not mean that the story is over, we will continue to follow leads as and when they arise in the hopes that eventually more names will turn up and be confirmed. If anyone knows of other entries on War Memorials or in Books of Remembrance please let the secretary know; other details may enable further articles on newly discovered members of the branch.