Can you help in our appeal, with the Deputy Lieutenant of Croydon, in providing details of personnel from Croydon who have been killed on active duty in the years since the end of World War II?
On Remembrance Sunday, our panel considers all those lost on active service, and two of them share the stories of how their own relatives were killed at the terrible World War I battles of The Somme and Ypres
David Morgan, Inside Croydon’s regular columnist on all matters historical, including finding in the archives of Croydon Minster records of soldiers killed in both world wars, is joined by Johnny Dobbyn, one of the co-curators of the Remembering 1916 exhibition staged at Whitgift School nine years ago, plus Phil Swallow and Fiona Satiro.
Swallow has his own local history YouTube channel, while Satiro wrote to Inside Croydon after a recent Morgan article about the Third Battle of Ypres, in 1917, to share the story of her own great-grandfather who was killed there.
Swallow, too, had a relative who died in World War I, at the Battle of the Somme.
In this podcast, our panel reveals the three – or is it two and a half? – Victoria Crosses awarded to soldiers from Croydon in the early years of the 20th Century. Might you be able to offer more or better information about these awards for valour?
Keep calm and carry on: this poster from 1944 evokes some of the ‘Blitz Spirit’, with the offer of free teas at Croydon’s famous department stores
We hear about the free teas offered at Croydon’s three big department stores in 1944 to residents of any towns or villages in “DoodleBug Alley”, and why Croydon took such a battering from the Nazis’ dedly flying bombs.
The vital role of the Shoe Battalion in World War I is revealed.
Our local historians highlight the invaluable work in colating valuable historic materials carried out by long-established associations, including the Bourne Society, the Norwood Society and the Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society.
We also explain Croydon’s important role in the air defences of London, both from the threat of the dreaded Zeppelins in 1914-1918, and later during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
And, together with the Deputy Lieutenant of Croydon, we issue an appeal for more information on any Croydon service personnel who have made the ultimate sacrifice when on duty in any of the service arms in the 80 years since the end of World War II, in any conflict, from Korea through to Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Here’s some of David Morgan’s recent articles:
- The Croydon schoolboy who was among Ypres’ first casualties
- The Town Hall hero of the Great War who ran Croydon’s baths
- Armistice Day: when Croydon was ‘beflagged’ with good cause
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