Crockham Hill June 2025 Newsletter - Flipbook - Page 26
and petrol and worrying about loved ones in the Forces, life was no bed of
roses.
So, VE Day came as a great relief to those worn out by 6 years of warfare.
But for some living in the village, it would have been a bitter-sweet day.
Alfred and Emily Barnes lived in a cottage at Rushetts for most of their
married life and had brought up their 5 sons there, attending Crockham Hill
School. Alfred was a bricklayer working for Mr Simmons the builder in
Edenbridge. His sons had followed their father into the building trade, but
were all ready to serve their country when war raised its ugly head again
in 1939.
The eldest, also called Alfred, worked as a plasterer and volunteered as a
Special Constable before he was called up into the Forces.The second son,
Percy, had taught Churchill plastering at Chartwell, sang in the Crockham
Hill Church Choir, and was with the RAF in Egypt on VE Day. Fred, 3 years
younger than Percy, was in Germany with the Royal Engineers. Fourth son,
Ernest, 27, was also in the RAF.
But there were two brothers who would not be joining the VE celebrations.
The youngest, Cecil, 19, had already served with the Mediterranean Fleet
when he was killed on his ship, HMS Registan, strafed by the Luftwaffe off
the coast of Cornwall.
The other brother, whose fate was not known on VE Day, was George, 29.
He had been serving with the Cambridgeshire Regiment in Singapore in
1942 when the city fell. Captured by the Japanese and incarcerated in one
of their notorious prison camps, his family heard little until, one of the lucky
survivors, he returned home in the autumn. Tom Gorick, who had lived
with his wife, Pat, at Church Gate Cottages, was also captured by the
Japanese in Singapore when serving with the Royal Army Service Corps. He
returned to the village in 1945 and threw himself into village life, serving
as a Parish Councillor for over 21 years, chairman of the Men9s Club , school
governor, churchyard sexton as well as running his own building firm.
Stephen Eve had become a career soldier in 1931 after Tonbridge School
and Cambridge. He was captured by the Germans in Greece in 1942 while
commanding his squadron of Hussars in a rear-guard action to defend
troops evacuating the area in 1941. Escaping twice, he was recaptured on
both occasions and thence incarcerated in the notorious Oflag IV-C, Colditz
Castle, where he continued to attempt escapes with Pat Reid and Airey
Neave. Returning in May 1945, he discovered his family home, Acremead,
was still requisitioned by the Army and had to lodge with friends in
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