they shall not grow old, as we that at the going down of

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you frailing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.

– John McCrae –

Remembrance Day

We should always wear our poppies,On Remembrance Day,

Soldiers had to go to war,They wished that they could stay.

Wives and children were so sad,They watched their men all leave,So the mothers had to go to work.When men were lost they grieved.

We know there could be peace for all,If everyone could agree.

Our fathers fought for us,So we could all be free.

Remembrance Day gives us a chance,So that we don’t forget,

That lives were lost, we’re always grateful,For those who died for us.

– Bronwyn, aged 9

They shall not grow old, as we thatare left grow old. Age shall not

weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in

the morning we will rememberthem

– Laurence Binyon –

1 SURREY FREEMASONS Supporting and donating to the COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION

SSuSurSurrSurreSurreySurrey FSurrey FrSurrey FreSurrey FreeSurrey FreemSurrey FreemaSurrey FreemasSurrey FreemasoSurrey FreemasonSurrey FreemasonsSurrey Freemasons aSurrey Freemasons anSurrey Freemasons andSurrey Freemasons andA E R O P L A N E SThere’s a proud history in Surrey when it comes to aeroplanesas not only did we have the very first international airport inCroydon, but two of our Lodges had within their ranksoutstanding aeronautical and design engineers.

The most iconic of all aeroplanes is the Supermarine Spitfire, madefamous with its sister fighter, the Hawker Hurricane being the aircraft that our airmenused to fight so galliantly in defeating the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.

A Founder member of the Lodge of Harmony and Progress, W.Bro. George Nicholas was instrumental inhelping to further the record-breaking Supermarine Spitfire. The credit for designing the aircraft rightlybelongs to R. J. Mitchell, CBE, FRAeS (1895-1937) (pictured right), but George played an important partin the aircraft’s development. It was in 1931 when George started to work in the design office of VickersArmstrong (Supermarine) Company, in fact his letter of appointment from R. J. Mitchell is now in theMuseum of Aviation in Southampton. The aircraft had won the Schneider Trophy races in 1927, 1929,and 1931 and it was George’s job as a Stressman to test for pressure on the wings. During hisemployment George studied at University and gained a professional qualification for the Institute ofAeronautical Engineers. Whilst at home in Southampton, George and his wife Edith suffered bombdamage during the intensive Blitz on the Supermarine Design Office in September 1940. He saidthat a bomb had dropped onto the office but thankfully it didn’t explode and rolled along the officefloor finishing up in the mud of the River Itchen below, but his home feared much worse.

When the Supermarine office closed in 1957, George moved to the Vickers Armstrong’sBrooklands Works at Weybridge, Surrey, and in 1958 his family moved to West Byfleet. Georgecontinued with his Freemasonry, following in the footsteps of his father, and grandfather.George’s son Eric, is a Freemason in the same Lodge, continuing the family tradition.

THE KINGSTON AERO LODGE

In 1918 a Masonic Lodge was formed from men who were working at the Sopwith Aviation Company. Pioneer aircraftdeveloper and manufacturer, Tommy Sopwith and his partner Fred Silgrist, who was regarded as a brilliant aeronautical

engineer, tested and built many types of aeroplane. The most famousof these was the Sopwith Camel which flew in the Great War of1914–1918. Working from an old disused skating rink in Kingston-upon-Thames, Tommy and Fred went on to employ many thousandsof people in their Canbury Road Works in Ham.

Fred Silgrist became a member of the Kingston Aero Lodge whosemembers mainly worked in the aircraft industry around Kingston-

upon-Thames. Although Tommy never became a member, he would oftenjoin in the Lodge’s social functions such as Ladies’ Nights and was particularly

genereous in donating sums of money to theRoyal Naval Air Service Comfort Fund, a charity to

which the Lodge was a contributor. The Lodge alsoattracted engineers from around Surrey like Harold Birdsall Bullingham, theinventor of the Zendik Cyclecar.

The Ham factory (of 38 acres) was sold to Leyland Motors and the newly-formedH. G. Hawker Engineering Company which was a forerunner of the Hawker SiddeleyCompany, the developer and manufacturer of yet another WW2 fighter aircraft, theHawker Hurricane.

The greatest claim to fame in the Lodge though, must be Bro. Arthur WhittenBrown (later Sir) (1886–1948). He and pilot John Alcock were the first to fly acrossthe Atlantic from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Clifden Connemara, Ireland whichtook place on 14th June, 1919.

During World War II, Sir Arthur Whitten Brown served in the Home Guard as aLieutenant-Colonel before resigning his commission in July 1941, to rejoin theR.A.F. to train navigators.

Sir Arthur Whitten Brown

Hawker Hurricane

Supermarine Spitfire

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SSuSurSurrSurreSurreySurrey FSurrey FrSurrey FreSurrey FreeSurrey FreemSurrey FreemaSurrey FreemasSurrey FreemasoSurrey FreemasonSurrey FreemasonsSurrey Freemasons aSurrey Freemasons anSurrey Freemasons andSurrey Freemasons andF I R E E N G I N E S

WORLD WAR TWO

1940sFIREMEN

2020 FIRE ENGINE

Through late 1939 and into 1940, men ofqualifying age were called-up to join thearmed services. Some though were alreadyserving in the National Fire Service. Onesuch man who was a Freemason from aLodge that met at the Camberwell MasonicHall, south-east London, was BrotherAlbert Sams.

At the age of 24, Albertfollowed his Uncle Fred’sadvice, who was in the sameMasonic Lodge, to join theNational Fire Service. So inMay 1940, Albert became atrainee Fireman at the RoyalArsenal, Woolwich.

His training barely startedwhen he was thrown intothe front line of firefighting.The German Luftwaffe hadstarted bombing the LondonDocks and Albert, night afternight, helped his colleaguesextinguish fires and dealingwith buildings that were ina state of collapse. Thedangers he faced were verysevere, not only from theterrible heat from the firesthat they were fighting,but from unexploded bombsand fractured gas mains.Many a good fireman lost hislife or was badly injured. Thecamaraderie in the fire servicewas beyond praise as eachfireman would do their utmostto help a colleague in times ofdistress, not unlike theprinciples we enjoy in Masonry.

Albert’s Lodge donated sumsof money to the WoolwichFire Station to assist the wives offireman who had been badly injured orhad died. Thankfully, Albert althoughsuffering from smoke inhalation whichaffected him for periods during his life,came through the war without seriousinjury. In December 1945, he receiveda letter (above) from the RoyalArsenal Woolwich thanking him forhis valuable service.

In 1951, Albert became theWorshipful Master of his Masonic Lodge.

Recently Freemasons have donated £2.5 million topurchase two brand new fire engines.

This engine’s ladder platform reaches an incredible64m, making it the tallest in Europe. In addition tothe two units, Freemasons have funded six fastresponse outlander vehicles and four bariatricstretchers.

CONTINUING FROM THE LIFE-SAVING WORK IN 1940 TOLIFE-SAVING IN 2020

SURREY FREEMASONS


Quite a momentous day for thisSurrey Freemason

From the diary of W.Bro. H. Earle,Bucknill Lodge, Godalming.Sunday, 15th September, 1940.“I was spending the day with myfamily at a famous beautyspot overlooking the weald ofSurrey and Kent. I’d taken somewell-earned rest from my dutiesas Secretary of my Masonic Lodgepreparing for our next meeting.My wife had packed a picnic andmy two boys had brought thecricket bat, ball and stumps, andwe were all looking forward to anenjoyable day.

The whole panorama of thebeautiful Surrey countryside isbefore one, and it was here thatwe were about to partake of ourlunch. But very shortly the enemy

bombers were heard high up above in close packedformation.

Anti-aircraft batteries opened fire immediately, andthe sky seemed full of fighter aircraft going up inpursuit. My family and I seated ourselves with ourbacks to a large beech tree, as I thought this affordedthe best protection under the circumstances. In afew seconds a large German bomber hurled out ofthe sky like a falling leaf. The pilot managed toregain some control when near the earth and itseemed as if a safe landing might have beenpossible, but he made a sudden dive, hitting theground, and the machine immediately burst into aninferno of flame and smoke. It was a terrible scene,taking place just down below us in the valley inbroad daylight, This, by the way, was the only timemy youngest son showed any sign of distress. Ourfighters were zooming in all directions and we couldhear the rattle of machine-gun fire above us.

A big black German bomber planed right acrossour vision about 300 ft from the earth, and withengines off, obviously trying to land, when to ouramazement there was a burst of machine-gun fire ashe scraped over the roof of a farmhouse very near toa golf course. It was astonishing to us that theoccupants of the machine in such a perilous positioncould still machine-gun a farmhouse as they passedover the roof and pancaked into a field half a milefurther along apparently undamaged. We were toldby someone who was near the field that the machinewas a Dornier. While this was going on anti-aircraftbatteries were sending up shells at a terrific rate.Shells were bursting in a wood behind us, and we felt

that at any moment some splinters might descend upon us. Aftera very short interval we saw a formation of Spitfires bring downtwo more bombers on the distant hills.

It was then that my wife pointed out to me one of our fightersthat was obviously in difficulties. He was spiralling towards earthand his destruction seemed imminent when, much to our reliefand amazement, he realised that he was going to hit the ground.At the top of a vertical climb the parachute opened and the pilotfell our of the machine and landed safely. As he dropped, hismachine fell to the ground like a stone.

Then a group of German bombers, hotly pursued by our fighters,were seen making their way, as best they could, to the coast.

I looked at my watch; the action had lasted thirty-five minutes.Our tense nerves relaxed. It was then we began to realise theperilous position we had been in. What we had witnessed wasthe Battle of Britain. We had seen with admiration the wonderfulfighting quality of our fighter pilots. The Surrey countryside waspeaceful once again, and the only evidence of the battle was thesmoking ruins of the German bombers in the fields below us.

After that we tucked into our lunch and played a game of cricket,with my eldest son bowling me out for a duck. Just after sixo’clock we arrived home, to find that a bomb had dropped sixdoors away from our house, shattering many of our windows andsending roof tiles flying in all directions. All-in-all, quite amomentous day”.

The Surrey countryside with a superimposed photograph of thevapour trails during the Battle of Britain.

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Tobruk

Mason’s wife tells of hertime in the WAAF ‘plotting’The story of Helen Mills, the wife of W.Bro. Geoffrey Mills of Old Wokians Lodge andNoel Money Lodge, Surrey.

“I was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey where I went toschool and then to Wimbledon High School.

In my home town of Weybridge, I was a member of theWomen’s Junior Air Corp and was given lectures and drillby a former Sergeant-Major who served in the First WorldWar. The Corp was the forerunner of the Air TransportAuxiliary whose members, although not allowed to docombat flying, ferried Lancaster, Spitfire and Mosquitoaircraft from the factories to the R.A.F. airfields.

I joined up in 1942 in Kingsway,London as a volunteer in theWomen’s Auxiliary Air Force(WAAF) and was sent toBridgenorth for kitting-up.After three weeks training ata rather damp Morecambe onthe Lancashire coast inAugust, I was posted toHornchurch, a FighterCommand Airfield in Essex.As a volunteer, I choseClerk (Special Duties)whose qualifications were

to be mentally alert and accurate. More important than high

educational qualifications were intelligence, calmness andquickness of uptake.

When the station closed in 1943, I was posted to No.11Group Uxbridge as a ‘Plotter’ down a bunker. Plottingentailed putting arrows and indicators on an OperationsTable which was a large map, in this instance of the south-east of England, the English Channel and the coasts ofFrance, Belgium and Holland. Other Groups, 10, 12 and 13covered the rest of the country. Information from Radar‘blips’ all around the cost were sent to Bentley Priory,Stanmore, headquarters of Fighter Command where theywere translated into ‘plots’, i.e. arrows.

In the Battle of Britain, plotters used wooden-typecroupier sticks and pushed plastic arrows; a difficult task. Iused magnetic sticks which placed the arrows until it wasplaced and then it retracted when the lever on the handlewas released and the plot placed. The informationregarding a raid was relayed on the tote board above themap. Timing of the plots was done at five minute intervals,measured by three colours, red, yellow and blue, so that asthe aircraft were moving, the colour of the plot wouldindicate the timing. There were only ever two colours on atany one time, so that, as the next five minutes came, thecoloured arrows of fifteen minutes previously wereremoved. There were four watches covering a 24 hourperiod, and the Operations Room was continually mannedwith only one plotter at the table at any one time. I spentan hour on plotting, but if there was a blitz on the plots,

i.e. that’s if the plots were coming through fast,concentration started to go. It was better to ask to berelieved and let someone else take over than make amistake. In bad weather when there was no flying, so Icould take a rest and enjoy a cup of tea. No smoking wasallowed in the room, even for Winston Churchill. TheNo.11 Bunker was 60 ft. down underground with 76concrete steps to climb and descend – there was no lift.After a night’s duty, it seemed a mountainous climb.

The activities and movement of aircraft coming or leavingan airfield such as Hornchurch had to be passed to theOperations Room and be recorded in notebooks usually byan Officer. In the early days the plight of the aircrews weretannoyed to the Operations Room, but as it was thought tobe too harrowing, this was discontinued. When the V1sstarted to invade our skies they were plotted and manywere blown apart in the air, but unfortunately V2s beingrockets were far too fast to be plotted.

Accommodation for the WAAFs was in an old airman’smarried quarters with usually eight to a house. We had anold Baxi boiler which provided heat and we could make ourown tea and toast. Our beds where basic metal with a horsehair mattress.

On the 5th June, 1944 (the day before D-Day) I went onduty in the evening when Squadrons were starting theirsortes for the big day. The Operations Room was markedout for the ‘Operation Overlord’ landings. All Allied forceswho had camped in the acres around Uxbridge Stationbegan to disappear over the channel to face the enemy atthe ‘Second Front”.

Helen after being transferred to R.A.F. Records atGloucester, was demobbed in 1946. She later trained as ateacher, got married and had children.

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This painting entitled A View of Box Hill, Surreyby George Lambert painted in 1733 is ondisplay at the Tate Gallery, London. It typifiesan area of Surrey regarded as an area ofoutstanding natural beauty.

Two hundred and seven years later though in1940 it was to become a vital defence against apossible German invasion. The peaceful andtranquil setting was to house ack-ack guns,searchlights, concrete pill boxes, and tank traps.

Throughout history the area around Box Hill, inthe valley of the River Mole known as the MoleGap Escarpment has been identified as apossible route for an invading army from thesouth coast on its way to London. If AdolfHitler’s army had successfully raided ourshores, the front line would have been drawnalong the North Downs Escarpment. This laststop gap, called the General Headquarters LineB, ran along the North Downs from Farnhamvia Guildford to Dorking, before following theriver to Horley. It would have had the Britisharmy stubbonly defending the route to London.If London had fallen the rest of the countrywould have surely followed.

Even in Victorian times the strategic positionof Box Hill was recognised. A fort can still beseen on the summit. Box Hill was mostprobably used by the Romans and later in thereign of Queen Elizabeth I as a beaconsignalling post. No doubt London would havebeen warned of the Spanish Armada by a chainof beacons from the south coast to London, BoxHill being one.

Because of its elevation (735 ft. / 224 m) it isideal for the placing of radio masts whichadorn its summit, although out of view in theclump of trees. In 1940, it would have beenideal for the spotting of enemy aircraftapproaching from the coast from airfields inFrance and the placement of anti-aircraft guns.

The Masons of Box Hill Lodgemanned the ack-ack guns andsearchlightsFreemasons from Lodges in the Dorking and Reigate area, formedthe Box Hill Lodge in 1943. They were also members of the localHome Guard Battalion and Civil Defence organisations.

The photo here, shows the Lodge members proudly posing for aFounders photographin 1943 with Box Hillin the distance.

The bottom photoshows men of a SurreyHome Guard Battalion.Notice that some arewearing ribbons fromservice in the GreatWar of 1914–1918.

Superimposed picture showingGerman aircraft over Box Hill.

Bottom: Searchlight trails


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As a young lad of 7, living in Ewell when war broke out in September 1939, my firstthought was will I still be able to receive my favourite comics. Every week I used towait for the newsagent’s delivery boy to pop through the letterbox a copy of TheHotspur. I used to love reading the Hotspur mainly because my uncle playeda few times for Tottenham Hotspur the north London football club although thecomic had nothing to do with football, but it was in fact full of exciting stories withsome good illustrations. A lot of the stories were about schoolboys who had becomesoldiers in the First World War who’d won medals by doing brave deeds. Sometimesthere were some crime mysteries where schoolboys solved the crime and caught thecriminals, but above all it was just a damn good read. It was the only thing that kept mequiet, said my mum.

One Thursday in March, 1941 I was annoyed that my comic hadn’t been delivered. Ipaced up and down and kept looking out of the window for the boy on his bicyclewho normally had a large canvas bag hung around his neck with the words SundayDespatch printed on the front, but there was no sign of him. Later my mum went tothe shops to get some groceries and on her return she said that the newsagent’sshop had received a direct hit from a ‘doodlebug’ and that the newsagent Mr. Johnsand his wife, had been killed. Very sad, poor old Mr. Johns, he always gave me asweet when I came into the shop with my dad.

I never really thought about who wrote the stories in my comics or where it wasprinted. All I knew was that 2d was taken out of my pocket money to pay for it.Dad insisted that I should learn about the value of money, and that it didn’tgrow on trees. He made me do a ledger of how I spent my pocket money. Funnilyenough it put me in good stead in later life when I trained to be an accountant, and then later when Ibecame the Treasurer of my Masonic Lodge which met in Camberley. But in 1942, I began to question about thecomic’s production. In our regular daily newspaper The Sketch, it reported on the loss of British shipping by enemy shipsand submarines. I sort of cottoned-on when my mum said that much of our paper before the war had been imported fromoverseas from Canada, the U.S.A. and Sweden, and that it was now a valuable commodity when you considered just howmany British seamen risked their lives daily to bring it to our ports. It made me think how lucky I was to be reading mycomic, and I prayed to God to ask Him to protect our sailors.

Many years later, and thankfully much wiser, I researched into the popularity of comics during the war years. Did you knowthat the owners of The Hotspur, D. C. Thomson & Co. sold 350,000 copies of the comic and a million copies together withsister publications Red Circle School, The Gem and The Magnet? Altogether comics and similar publications sold over three

million copies per week in the U.K. Comics were big business in those days, unlike today where children are mostly interested in computer games.

I remember in 1943, that there were so many more stories about the war than in comics of1939. You can see from the illustration of The Hotspur (above) or the Adventure (left)both from 1943, that boys could imagine what war was like by looking at the front coverof the comics. The writers of these comics did glorify the stories they portrayed Isuppose, understandbly, because how could they tell the truth about British soldiers,sailors and airmen dying, or of us losing battles at sea, in the desert of north Africa, orbeing treated inhumanly by the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma? No, it wouldnot have sold the comics – who wants to read about doom and gloom? However, whatit did portray to youngsters like myself was that going to war and wearing a uniformwas an honourable thing to do – the stuff of comics.

There was a great deal of propaganda during the war years and in particular inGermany. Dr Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, was a master at it. Hismanipulation of the German press and radio persuaded German citizens that HerrHitler and his Nazi party were the saviours of Germany. He installed William Joyce,or commonly known by the British public as Lord Haw Haw, a traitor, to broadcastdaily to the British public that Britian and her Empire were losing the war in aneffort to undermine Britain’s morale.

Propaganda played an important part in Germany and here in the U.K. Thankfully, the truth always comes out, but the comics did play their part in keeping up morale in the young, to instil in

us a sense of pride, a love of our country, to defeat tyranny, and a will to win through.

I was annoyed when ournewsagent in Ewell didn’t deliver my comic!Surrey Freemason tells his story


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SURREY FREEMASONS

Many Masonic Lodges during the Second World War,allowed members to wear their uniforms if they could notwear their usual regalia at meetings. One Lodge – CovehamLodge which usually met at the Parish Rooms, Cobham hadto move to the New Bull Hotel, Leatherhead at the start ofthe war as their building was to be used for civic functionsand as a rest centre for men in the Civil Defenceorganisations.

The Lodge Secretary never knew precisely who was goingto attend the Lodge meetings. Some of the members whowere on active service did their best to attend if they werein the U.K., but some others had no chance of attendingmeetings if they have been posted abroad. The Lodge had amixture of men serving in the forces, and some older menwere serving in the Home Guard or Civil Defenceorganisations. Uniforms of one sort or another dominatedthe Lodge room.

One Worshipful Brother, Ian Pearce was a Colour Sergeantin the Parachute Regiment. Bro. Pearce missed severalmeetings as he was involved in the parachute landing nearPegasus Bridge (made famous in the film A Bridge Too Far).He was also involved in the Normandy landings being inthe second wave. Other members were onboard ships,

serving in the Royal Engineers, a gunnery technician in thePathfinder Corp, a corporal in the Army Catering Corp, aprivate in the Royal Signals Corp, a lance corporal servingin the R.A.F., and even a clerk working behind a desk at thewar office. Uniforms varied from army khaki, the colours ofthe senior service, or the blue of the R.A.F. Not forgettingthe uniforms of some older men who had joined the CivilDefence units as Wardens or in Civil Defence Rescue.Ironically, one member who was an Air-Raid Warden at aCivil Defence Post in Dorking, was actually the Lodge’sJunior Warden. For those unfamiliar with Masonic LodgeOfficers, the Worshipful Master of a Lodge is senior to theSenior Warden and Junior Warden. Another member,W.Bro. Brian Powell who had been training pilots as aninstructor was seconded to fly Lord Beaverbrook as hispersonal pilot. On a number of occasions W.Bro. Powellflew with Winston Churchill.

It was a sad time when Bro. Philip Chase lost his wife andtwo children in a local air-raid, but members rallied roundto support him in his grief. Such was the comradeship withall the members. Whenever or wherever possible, Lodgemembers would help a Brother in times of distress –principles that are so entwined in Freemasonry.

WORLD WAR TWOMen from Cobham and Leatherheadunited in the defence of the nation

8 SURREY FREEMASONS

Supporting and donating to theCOMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION

SURREY FREEMASONS

WOKING FREEMASON DESCRIBESCONDITIONS ABOARD LONDONLANDMARK HMS BELFAST ONTHE CONVOY RUNS TO RUSSIA

WORLD WAR TWO

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BRO. HARRY FOXTON, a resident of Woking and a member of a Lodgemeeting in Farnham joined the Royal Navy in 1942 and describes whatlife was like aboard a convoy ship.“Tough, bloody tough! I didn’t realise what life was like on board a shipuntil I stepped onto the gangplank of my first ship docked in Portsmouth,HMS Belfast – a Light Cruiser.At first it seemed okay. Most of the blokes were like me, a bit apprehensiveof what to expect. We all knew from school about the glories of the RoyalNavy – Nelson and Trafalgar and that sort of stuff, and the floggings aboardwooden warships. But this was different. This ship was all metal, a rathersickly grey colour going rusty in places, but a fine ship at that. She’d beenrecently repaired and underwent a refit after she struck a mine in 1939.After a time we got used to the routine and the Officers weren’t that bad.Sometimes they’d come down and share a joke, but it was the PettyOfficers who were the scourge. You had to be on your toes when they wereabout. One of them came from Woking, so it made things a little easierwhen he and I were on duty together as he knew my cousin, but all thesame he could dish it out when he wanted to.After a month cruising – no don’t get it wrong, this cruising was much,much different to what I experienced on my 60th birthday cruising aroundthe Caribbean in 1984. This cruising was bloody hard work, no stewards tobring you cocktails by the pool, no club sandwiches whilst placing a chip atthe roulette wheel. This cruising was up the north west coast of Britain andaround the Arctic Sea, south of Iceland, and consisted of practice for battle.If we fired our guns once, we fired them a hundred times and we had to begood at it too. My poor old ears really went through it.We sailed from Scapa Flow into the Atlantic and for a few days it seemedquite peaceful. But, the weather had started to turn and the ship started aheavy roll. I’d never thought it could be so bad, at one time the ship was100 ft above the waves and in an instant we were 100 ft below. Evenexperienced sailors who had been aboard the ship for some time feltqueezy. Hammocks just swayed from side to side – if it had been on afairground it would have been fun. We never stopped thinking about U-

Boats. Just suppose a torpedo hit us, what would we do? How would we get off the ship? I was told that if you went intothe sea in the North Atlantic, you’d never get out of it alive as it was freezing cold. Many a good sailor perished in icy seas.Still, there was a job to do and after a time we all felt good about each other’s company. I made lots of friends, a couple ofthem were Masons like myself. We talked about our Lodges and the ritual. Sometime later we returned to Portsmouth andluckily we were given a few days leave. On return we sailed into the North Sea and joined a convoy of ships near theOrkneys heading for the Russian ports of Arkhangelsk (Archangel) or Murmansk. The Russians, so we were told, badlyneeded arms and equipment to continue the fight with the Germans. Churchill and Roosevelt had agreed to send inBritish and American ships to escort the merchantmen in a Lend-Lease Agreement.On the first run, it wasn’t too bad although we did encounter some German aircraft and one merchantship was sunk and afrigate was severly damaged. On the next run, it was completely different. The Germans had got wind of us approachingthe west coast of Norway and sent in bombers, submarines and anything else they could throw at us – we lost quite a fewships. It was now extremely cold – freezing, and the deck was covered in ice over 2 ft thick. Too much ice on a ship canaffect its bouyancy, so me and my mates regularly bashed and chipped away at the ice – it took me 4 hours to thaw outafterwards. I’d never shook so much in all my life with the cold. I never complain too much now if the weather in Britaingets cold, as it’s much bearable than winter in the Arctic Sea. Eventually, we arrived at the Russian port. Were they happyto see us? Well, I didn’t realise Vodka had so many flavours. The trip back in December 1943 was eventful. We’d heard thatthe German ship Scharnhorst was lurking around our neck of the woods. Action Stations was given to man the guns, andsure enough the German ship appeared on the horizon. Thankfully, other Royal Navy ships were present including thebattleship, HMS Duke of York and an action took place off the Norwegian North Cape in which the German ship was sunk.”Fact: Around 1,400 merchant ships left British ports under the Soviet Union’s Lend-Lease programme, escorted byships of the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the US Navy. Eighty-five merchant vessels and sixteen RoyalNavy warships were lost. Over 3,000 sailors and mariners lost their lives.

Ice on HMS Belfast

The north Atlantic convoy routes


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SURREY FREEMASONS

During WW2, the Police were responsible for sounding the sirens(before and after a raid), evacuating areas close to unexplodedbombs, controlling traffic away from incident sites as well as“maintaining law & order”. Shameless to say that occasionallylooting was an issue following bombing raids.

The pre-war ranks were added to by a Police Reserve (usually retiredofficers), the Special Constabulary who were given a period of approvedtraining and a Police War Reserve. There was also a Women's AuxiliaryPolice Corps and the Police Auxiliary Messenger Service (the latterintended to keep lines of communication open).

Many policemen whether in the regular service or in the ‘Specials’, carriedout many courageous acts endangering their own lives in the process.One such ‘Special’ was Sergeant W.Bro. Hugo de Lacy, a Freemason fromSt. Leonard’s Streatham Lodge.

On the night of 14th October, 1940 at 8.25pm, Bro. de Lacy whowas stationed at Streatham Police station, received a call fromScotland Yard to attend at Balham underground station,where a bomb had exploded on the tube station. The

station was nearly 3 miles away, but within a short timeofficers from the police station had arrived to see thecarnage of a direct hit on the station. The bomb hadexploded some 32 ft. down between a passage from the upand down lines, and a massive amount of debris had falleninto the tunnel. The rescue was obstructed by a No.88 buson the surface that had plunged into the crater caused bythe bomb. Every effort by firemen, police and the civildefence to locate and rescue people proved difficult anddangerous. Gas mains had been fractured along withsewage pipes and water had poured down into theunderground tunnels below.

Bro. de Lacy and fellow officers attempted to push awaythe rubble to affect an escape route for survivors to climbthrough. The smell of gas started to overcome therescuers and several officers felt dizzy and unable tocontinue. The whole site could have seen even morecasualties had the gas been ignited by a spark.

The station had been designated a civilian air raid shelter.Thousands of local residents had descended down into the tube toescape the Blitz. All along the Northern Line from the Elephant & Castleto Colliers Wood, people attempted to make a bed and were cheering

themselves by singing popular songswhen disaster struck. Sixty-six peopleincluding staff working in the tunnelsand platforms were killed as a result ofthe bomb mostly from drowning astons of water had filled the tunnels.

Hugo de Lacy, exhausted after manyhours of digging in dangerousconditions retired to the make-shift teastall to refresh himself with a hot cupof tea. He then proceeded back to thesite to carry on digging for survivors foranother 5 hours before he was finallyrelieved. He had done his duty and hadfaced injury or death. Many months after, he received a letter of commendation from theChief Constable which he proudly hung framed in his home in Streatham. Memories ofthe disaster he would recall for many years after with sadness at the great loss of life.

Brave ‘Specials’ andMet. Policemen


The public found the tube safe except at 8.02pm on the14th October, 1940.

A deep crater caused by the Luftwaffe’s bomb at Balham

Heather Laughland (neé Robertson). Heather’s husband, Ian Laughland was aSurrey Freemason for over 60 years.

Heather, joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens) shortlyafter the beginning of World War Two. She always enjoyed doingcrossword puzzles especially the ones with cryptic clues and wasrecruited to work at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, the secrethome of the World War Two codebreakers. After extensivesecurity checks and aptitude tests she was assigned to work asa Bombe Operator, part of a team which changed the cylinders(known as Bombes) on the machine designed by Alan Turingknown as Colossus. This was most probably the very firstelectronic and mechanical computer and was used to workout the sequence of numbers to break the German Enigmacode.

Heather never reallyspoke about her postingto her family untilaround 1990, and eventhen not much information was forthcoming,but on a nostalgic visit to Bletchley Parkmany years later, she happened to overheara man say that the hut that he had beenworking in was his office. Heather remarkedthat she had been working in the hut nextdoor, but neither of them knew each otheras they were not allowed to talk abouttheir work.

Nearly 10,000 people worked at the park and its surrounding area.Around 75 per cent were women, and of those six out of ten were uniformedpersonnel from the Women’s Services.

Mrs Heather LaughlandWomen’s Royal Naval Service

WORLD WAR TWO

SURREY FREEMASONS

The Women’s Royal NavalService (WRNS; popularlyand officially known as theWrens) was the women’sbranch of the British RoyalNavy. First formed in1917 for the First WorldWar, it was disbanded in1919, then revived in1939 at the beginning ofthe Second World War,remaining active untilintegrated into the RoyalNavy in 1993. WRNsincluded cooks, clerks,wireless telegraphists,radar plotters, weaponsanalysts, range assessors,electricians and airmechanics.

German Enigma machine

A WW2 Wren

Wren Bombe Operators

Heather’s certificate

Left: The Colossus computerBelow: Wrens on parade at Bletchley Park

Alan Turing


WORLD WAR TWO

SURREY FREEMASONSThe War atsea in the Far East

When Japanese aircraft carriers attacked Pearl Harbour, Hawaiion December 7th 1941, the United States President Franklin D.Roosevelt immediately declared war on Japan, and the Axis. TheJapanese had won a strategic battle in disabling the U.S. Pacificfleet. Without warning aircraft carrying bombs and torpedosruthlessly destroyed warships moored at harbour and many U.S.sailors and civilians were killed.

It wasn’t long after that the Japanese launched attacks onBritish Colonial territories at Singapore, which was thought to beimpregnable, Hong Kong and Malaya. The Japanese army attackedSingapore from the north of the peninsula surprising the Britishwho surrendered in what was known as “The Fall of Singapore”.British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called it “The worstdisaster in British military history”. Many thousands of Britishand Australian men, women and children were imprisoned by theJapanese.

At sea, the Japanese fleet, bouyant after their attacks on PearlHarbour encountered two British warships: the HMS Prince of Wales, a battleship and HMS Repulse, a battle cruiser plus four

destroyers. It was more bad news as both warships were sunk by the Japanese. This allowed theJapanese army to over-run British, Dutch and French possessions in the Far East.

The stage was now set for British and American forces to counter both on land and at sea, but itwould take a couple of years before Allied strength could make an impact.

It was in 1944, that Roy Miller, a Freemason who is a member of the Stoneleigh CoronationLodge that meets at the Masonic Hall in Sutton, became a gunner on the Royal Navy’s HMSIndomitable, an aircraft carrier. Together with HMS Victorious and another carrier HMS Indefatigablebegan liberating territories under Japanese control. Thewarships faced countless attacks from Japanese Zeroaeroplanes, their pilots known as Kamikaze pilots oftenhad disregard for their own lives and committed suicide byflying their aircraft straight at the decks of British ships.Roy’s ship was hit several times but they managed to shootdown some Zeros before they could do any damage. Hesaid “We were warned about Kamikaze aircraft, we weretold to shoot them down otherwise we’d lose the ship”.

Eventually, after the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs onJapan, the Emperor of Japan’s forces surrendered and Roywas onboard HMCS Prince Robert to take the surrender in

Hong Kong harbour. Today, Roy, a member of the British Legion attends Remembrance DayServices proudly supporting the part the Royal Navy played in the war in the Far East. Hesays, “It was an arduous campaign and it should be remembered for ever more”.

A Kamaikaze is shot down on HMS Indomitable

Ray Fuller is a Freemason of BisleyLodge that meets at the Masonic Hall,Godalming.

Ray served aboard HMS Illustrious(right), an aircraft carrier in the FarEast from 1943 to 1945 in a similarcapacity to Roy above.

Under attack by the Japanese (below).

13 SURREY FREEMASONS

Supporting and donating to the COMMONWEALTHWAR GRAVES COMMISSION

When war broke out, men joined up or were conscripted into the armedservices. Some already in the Police force and the National Fire Service choseto stay, but others readily became soldiers, sailors or airmen and many losttheir lives or sustained injuries during the war years. There were many menfrom local Freemasons’ Lodges who joined the forces or became ‘Specials’.

Those in the Surrey Constabulary were responsible fora whole range of tasks. It was the police who were normallythe first of the uniform services at the scene of bombings,crashed aircraft with all those dangers, capturing downedairmen, rescuing trapped people in buildings. Added tothis is the work and violence brought about by the largenumbers of soldiers in the county, many Canadians, manybored and frustrated and wanting to go home.

Never let anyone undermine the quality of the men ofthe Surrey Constabulary and other forces during thosedangerous times. They were committed, brave menundertaking their often-lonely duty and were key to thesafety of the Home Front. Here are just a very few of theincidents that they had to attend in 1940. There are manymore reports through to 1945, but as space is limited, sohere are just a few:1940, June 30th. First bomb fell on Surrey. From 30th June–31stDecember 1940, 5,668 high explosive bombs were dropped on theSurrey Constabulary area. 15th August. Over Redhill following araid, two Hurricane pilots from two Squadrons chased aMesserschmitt bringing it down when it exploded on Redhillairfield killing one of the crew the other being taken prisoner.Police Report from PC52, E. Beeney “I was on enquiries at Nutfieldwhen an air battle took place in a north-westerly direction. About7pm I observed an aircraft apparently out of control come down inspirals from a height of approximately five thousand feet in thedirection of Redhill Aerodrome. In the same section of sky aparachute was descending.” A PC went to the scene where he foundthe body of a German in the burnt out wreckage. The other crewmember that baled out landed at Merstham where he was capturedby Canadian soldiers the first prisoner of the war taken by theCanadians. PC Robert McBrien Surrey Constabulary awarded a BEMwhen at great personal risk he rescued a woman trapped under theruins of a house demolished by an enemy bomb at Horsley. SpecialConstable William Flower Symonds Reigate Borough Police:Symonds was approaching 50 years of age and was told that he wasfar too old to re-enlist in the Army on active service, instead hejoined the Reigate Police as a Special Constable, and served in that

capacity throughout the war. PC Burbidge served inthe Guildford Borough Police throughout the war as auniform beat officer and station officer in NorthStreet. He recalls that there were a great number ofCanadian troops billeted nearby and they caused agreat deal of trouble in Guildford as this was theirnearest town for recreation. Fights were common andpolice often ended up with their backs to the wall withtruncheons drawn. October 27th. A 1,000 lb bomb fellon 16 Emlyn Road, Earlswood, Reigate demolishing 5 houses and damaging 110. Sixpeople were killed and 24 had to be rescued. October 29th. Dorking: A bomb hitthe corner of Fraser Garden’s housing estate destroying two houses killing twosisters aged 12 and 20 when their home collapsed. Their parents and two brotherssurvive. A nextdoor neighbour is also killed. Box Hill had several large baskets ofincendiaries giving what many considered to be a firework display!Information obtained from: The History of the Surrey Constabulary. With thanks to: Robert Bartlett.

“The calm and authoritative way ofthe good-natured Bobby did more todispel panic than any amount of official propaganda”

WORLD WAR TWO

SURREY FREEMASONS

In January 1851, the Surrey Constabularybegan policing the county with a total of 70officers, the youngest of whom was 14 yearsold. Originally Guildford, Reigate andGodalming had separate borough policeforces. The Reigate and Guildford forces weremerged into Surrey’s in 1943.

The Special Constabulary is a force of trainedvolunteers who work with and support theirlocal police. ‘Specials’, as special constables areknown, come from all walks of life – they wereteachers, taxi drivers, accountants andsecretaries, or any number of other careers –and they all volunteered to do a minimum offour hours a week to their local police force,forming a vital link between the regular(full-time) police and the local community.


Dealing with an unexploded parachute bomb

Escorting German Luftwaffe PoWs

WORLD WAR TWO

SURREY FREEMASONS

There has always been a stronglink between Freemasonry and theScout Movement throughout theworld, and in Surrey we are luckyto have one Freemason who hasrisen to a high position in the

Scout movement. W.Bro. Bill Stern of Thurlow Park Lodge whois the current County President of Greater London (South).Bill’s involvement in Scouting started as a Wolf Cub in 1936. Atthe start of WW2 in September 1939, he was evacuated toBerkshire where he joined the 1st Wokingham Scout Troop. Hislong membership of the Scouting movement extends to thisday and has been recognised by the presentation of a "SilverWolf", the highest award for exceptional service.

The Scouting Movement have a proud history of service toking and country during the Second World War. If you delveinto their record (see The Scouts Heritage Service atheritage.scouts.org.uk) you will see the invaluable assistancethey gave to all sections of the armed and civil defenceservices, and a sad list of Scouts who had joined the armed

services who lost their lives.During the Blitz Scouts supported civilian

organisations, and many joined the Air RaidWarden’s Service, rescue, fire and ambulanceservices. They worked in dangerousconditions as fire watchers, stretcher bearers,carrying messages, supporting evacuation ofhospitals during air raids and carrying out first aid. Scouts alsocarried out a range of other jobs including supporting othercivilian services with provision like service cafés for those inthe armed forces. The government started campaigns such as

the collection ofwaste paper andscrap metal to raisefunds to support thewar effort and theScouts were there atthe front, neverfailing to do theirduty. Othercampaigns like “TheDig for Victory” wasintroduced toencourage people toconvert land for foodproduction to helpincrease the amountof home producedfood limiting the

reliance on imported goods. Scouts helped maintain plots ofland including war gardens set up in the grounds of hospitals.

And when they were needed they were there.The following extract was written by the Group Scout

Leader of the Mortlake Sea Scout Group which crewed the 45ftmotor picket boat Minotaur during Operation Dynamo (theevacuation of Dunkirk), it appearing in The Scouter in July1940. The Scout Leader is believed to be Mr Tom Towndrowand he received Admiralty orders on the night of 29th May tosail the Minotaur to a staging area in the Thames Estuary towait further instructions by the Royal Navy:

“By midnight the Crew was found, and at 8:30 a.m. we were underweigh down river, refueling and taking on stores and water as wewent. At 8 p.m. we reported to our destination and were givenfurther instructions to proceed to a south-east port. We made it at9 o’clock the next morning.”

At Ramsgate two Naval ratings joined the crew of theMinotaur and assisted with the loading of fuel and provisions.They all received detailed operational instructions on the morningof 31st May before making the crossing to Dunkirk and would havehad little knowledge of what they would encounter.

By 10:45 a.m. we were on our way. The crossing took five-and-a-half to six hours, and was by no means uneventful. Destroyerafter destroyer raced past, almost cutting the water from beneathus, and threatening to overturn us with their wash. Weapproached the beach with great caution at Dunkirk, because ofthe wrecks. We found things fairly quiet, and got on with ourallocated job of towing small open ships’ boats, laden withsoldiers, to troop transports anchored in deep water, or off loadingfrom the open boats and proceeding out to the transports.

Conditions did not remain quiet for long. We were workingabout a quarter of a mile away from six destroyers. Suddenly alltheir anti-aircraft guns opened fire. At the same time we heard theroar of 25 Nazi planes overhead. Their objective was the crowdedbeach and the destroyers. Salvo after salvo of bombs was dropped.Adding to the deafening din were air raid sirens soundingcontinuously on the shore. One ‘plane made persistent circlesround us. Another Nazi ‘plane was brought down in flames, fartoo close for our liking!

After the raiders had passed, we shakily got on with the job.Eventually our fuel ran low and the engine made ominous noises,so were relieved. We took a final load to a trawler, returned to ourEast Coast base, re-fuelled and turned in for a few hours’ sleep.We were then told to stand by, as fast boats were making the nextcrossing. We shipped aboard another motor boat as crew. We leftbefore it got dark under a convoy of a large sea-going tug. Our jobthis time was to work from the mole at Dunkirk Harbour inconjunction with the tug. The operation was supposed to becarried out under cover of darkness, but with the petrol and oiltanks on fire it might have been daytime. Having loaded the tug wecame away barely in time. As we left the mole the Germans got itsrange, and a shell demolished the end of it.

On the way back we Scouts transferred to a Naval cutter, fullof troops, which was making the return journey. The officer incharge had lost his charts. Knowing the course back we were ableto take over. After a nine-hours’ crossing we made our East Coastbase once more. German aircraft constantly followed all smallboats out to sea, gunning the crews and troops on board. Threemore members of our Sea Scout Troop crewed other boats fromChiswick which were short of men.”With thanks to the Scout Heritage Service.

Surrey Freemason proudof his Scouting heritage

Sea Scout boat Minotaurwhich took part in

Operation Dynamo

Scouts on ambulance service

14 SURREY FREEMASONS

Supporting and donating to the COMMONWEALTHWAR GRAVES COMMISSION

they shall not grow old, as we that at the going down of

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