A Baxter . British Army A Baxter served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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A Baxter . British Army A Baxter served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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PO. Albert Thomas Baxter . Royal Navy HMS Aurora from Lyndurst Rd. Portsmouth My father, Albert Thomas Baxter, like many other servicemen never spoke a lot about his wartime experiences. The only important ones being:
Serving as a stoker on the corvette HMS Jason as convoy escort when HMS Curacao was cut in two by RMS Queen Mary in the North Atlantic.
When in the Naafi at Plymouth Dockyard, the Naafi received a direct hit from an enemy bomb. My father was dug out of the debris some time later with his best mate from under a snooker table, where his mate had the presence of mind to drag him. He always said that several servicemen were still sitting around the walls but dead.
His only other experience was whilst on board HMS Aurora they were in action off the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea. Several crew members being killed in this action, but he survived when at his station in the machinery room when an enemy bomb came through the deckhead damaging a propeller shaft and exiting through the ships side without detonating.
He served on HMS Aurora from mid 1942 until she returned to Portsmouth in the summer of 1946, I remember the children's party on board in Portsmouth Dockyard with awnings rigged on the aft deck.
By the way I am still in possession of his 'Crossing the Line' certificate from HMS Aurora complete with the signatures of Captain W G Agnew and the actor Kenneth More
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Pte. Alexander Baxter . British Army Army Catering Corps from Belfast, Northern Ireland (d.3rd Feb 1945) Private Alexander Baxter was the Husband of Mary Minnis Baxter of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
He was 37 when he died and is buried in the Haldensleben Hospital Cemetery in Germany.
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Pvt. Allen John Baxter . Australian Army from Australia POW Camp Fukuoka 17 in Japan
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Drvr. Charles Baxter . British Army 141st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps from Norwich I never really had any contact with my father as he was divorced from my mum when I was three. She much later told a story about my dad driving his tank down a street in Canterbury (Notley Street?) and cracking up both pavements. He narrowly escaped court martial as D-Day was looming. His close mate was Jack Clarke and my father's name was Charles Baxter of Norwich in Norfolk, UK.
I don't know much more about him and wonder if he is known in any records or memories. I am now in my mid seventies and would love to tell my great grandchilden something of their great great grandad. Any help would be very much appreciated.
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Fus Charles Baxter . British Army 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers from Longford, Ireland (d.10th October 1942)
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Pte. Cyril Gordon Baxter . British Army 9th Btn. Durham Light Infantry (d.12th Aug 1944)
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Tpr. Edward Baxter . British Army 3rd Troop, B Sqd. 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars from Sheffield My dad was a desert rat with the 8th Irish Hussars. He joined at the age of 18 in 1933 and stayed in right up to 1945 when the war finished. He came from Wincobank in Sheffield. He died on the 5th Jan 2002.
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George Baxter . Home Guard Feltwell Btn.
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Cpl. Gerald Lawrence Baxter . South African Army Platoon runner. Signals Corps from South Africa My late father Gerald Baxter would not talk of his experiences other than that he was in North Africa (Tobruk) and then as a POW.
The information I have is that he was a Signalman and Platoon runner in South African 2nd Infantry
and saw action in the North African Campaign, being captured at Tobruk. He was a POW in Italy (believe it was in the Po river valley area) but then escaped and was recaptured. He was traken to Germany to Stalag 4F Hartmannsdorf (POW No: 263029) He was demobilized and returned to South Africa at the end of the war.
I would be extremely grateful for any addtional information.
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Cpl. Herbert Moorhead Baxter . Australian Infantry 2/7 Btn. from Picola, Victoria I am trying to piece together my father's war history. His name was Bert Baxter, he was on the Costa Rica when it was sunk. He landed on Crete and was captured early in his service history by German forces. I am wondering as to which prison camp he was taken. Pretty sure it was Stalag 383. He won an Aussie rules football (carved from wood) for his footy talents! He went to work on a prison farm then back to camp towards the latter part of his time and was released by American forces in 1944, four years in total.
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Pte. John Cockburn Baxter MM.. British Army 2/4th Btn. Hampshire Regiment from Hayes, Middlesex (d.18th Dec 1944) John Baxter served in North Africa and Italy.
He was killed in Athens, Greece.
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Cpl. John Robert Baxter . Royal Air Force No. 73 Squadron from Scunthorpe (d.17th Jun 1940)
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Sgt. Joshua Baxter . British Army 91st Anti Tank Regiment Royal Artillery from Boston, Lincs
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Pte. Norman William Baxter MID. Australian Imperial Forces 2/1 Ord. Store Co. from Sydney, Australia My father Private Norman William Baxter joined the Australian Army in Sydney on 29 May, 1940, aged 22. He served in Libya and North Africa, Greece and Crete, where he was captured and taken prisoner by the Germans on the 1st June, 1941. He was taken to Stalag V11A (Mooseburg) on 23 August, 1941. By August 1943 he was at Stalag V111A (Gorlitz)and at various working camps. He was at Stalag X1B (Duderstartd), where he was liberated by the Americans on 9th April, 1945. After R and R in England he arrived back home at Sydney on 17th June, 1945. It turned out to be my birthday six years later!
My father loved to watch Hogans Heroes. He would watch that show and laugh his head off. He obviously had some fond memories as a P.O.W. He always spoke well of the German people. I have a few photos and two surviving postcard/letters he sent from the P.O.W. camps.
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Sgt P O Baxter . RAF 12sqd
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Squadron Leader R G L Baxter . RAF No. 12 Squadron Does anyone know if Lancaster ED548 of No. 12 Squadron was recovered from the River Forth after crashing into the river near the Kincardine Bridge on the 7/7/1943 whilst taking part in a cross country flight?
I know that Sgt W H Bartlett (air gunner) and Sdn Ldr R G L Baxter (pilot) both died in this accident and are both buried in Gransable cemetery.
The reason I am asking is that I am a interested in aircraft and have my own company using ROVs to do underwater videos and inspections, and if Lancaster ED548 is still down at the bottom of the Forth I would like to film it for future archives.
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F/S S. Baxter . Royal Air Force 514 Sqd. Having been shot down on the 3rd of August, Sgt Baxter evaded capture until the 9th when he was captured in Paris. He was incarcerated in the notorious Parisian Prison at Fresnes and eventually transported to Buchenwald. Luftwaffe officers obtained his release and he was interned in Stalag Luft 3.
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Pte. Thomas White Baxter . British Army from Seaham County Durham
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TN Baxter . British Army Royal Armoured Corps TN Baxter served with the Royal Armoured Corps British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Tom Baxter . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
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Pte William "Wilf" Baxter . British Army Cameron Highlanders from Hull I know little about Dad, William Baxter's war history as he would never talk about it. I know he served in Burma, the only talk was general about shaking hands with General Slim, the conditions, the wildlife, the Chindits, how much respect he had for the Gurkhas and catching a lift on an old Dakota to Agra in India. He always mentioned that he thought the Japanese were a small race, yet the first prisoner they brought in was over six foot! I know he contracted malaria and one of his close friends was Jimmy Kinnie on the Isle of Arran, which incidentally was my first ever holiday. If anyone can fill in the gaps it would be appreciated.
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Sgt David Baxter. . Royal Air Force 78 Sqd (d.13th May 1943 )
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Sgt Malcolm Baxter. . Royal Air Force 78 Sqd.
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S/Ldr Robert George Leslie Baxter. . RAF 12sqd (d.7th Jul 1943) Robert Baxter lost his life on 7th July 1943 during training in Lancaster I ED548 PH-X.
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Leonard Whatmore "Bill" Bayes . Royal Air Force 100 Sqdn. from Worcester Seletar Incident. c.1939, RAF Seletar, Singapore
A quote from page 90 of "Time and Chance", an autobiography by Peter Townsend. Published by Collins 1978
"Outside my ground-floor bedroom was an asphalt space where I parked my beautiful, blue, long-nosed M.G. (which consisted of the bits and pieces of two or three others, put together by an ingenious Chinese). One afternoon I was changing the right, rear tyre when something made me stop and walk over to my bedroom, ten yards away, to look for a rag. During the few seconds I was there I heard an aeroplane pass over the mess, approaching to land. A moment later I was back beside my car; the right rear mudguard was deeply gashed and on the ground beside it lay a string of lead beads, the kind that were attached to the end of a trailing aerial. The weighted aerial would have cut me in half like a piece of cheese, had not that kindly unseen hand pushed me out of the way just in time."
This incident must have happened at RAF Seletar in Singapore, not long before World War II started in 1939. The aircraft involved are Vickers Vildebeest aircraft, rugged torpedo bombers, which were stationed at Seletar in two Squadrons. Townsend was flying with 36 Sqdn and my Dad, Leonard Bayes, was with 100 Sqdn. These lumbering biplanes were the only aircraft available to defend Singapore when the Japanese invaded in 1941.
With reference to Townsend's account; in actual fact, the "weighted aerial" was the hawser from which a target sleeve had been attached. The anti-aircraft (ak-ak) people practised using this sleeve as an airborne target. This sleeve had to released and towed in the air from the plane on many hundred yards of hawser, and after the practise, it had to be hauled back into the aircraft. This was my Father's job.
This particular day they had done well and shot away the sleeve. The sleeve had the added advantage of giving some stability to the assembly, without it the hawser whipped around in the slipstream. This made it extremely difficult for Dad to haul in the hawser, using this particular aircraft's air-powered winch. The pilot announced his intention to land at RAF Seletar. Dad said, "You can't land yet, I've still got a lot of hawser to haul in!" The pilot said that he had no option, as they were running out of fuel. As the pilot approached the landing area, you can imagine my Dad's thoughts as he cowered in the cockpit, listening to various ominous crashes and bumps as the hawser left a swathe of damage to anything in it's path!
A short while later, as Dad was splicing on another sleeve, the Adjutant marched up and barked, "Bayes! Do you realise you nearly killed someone, and what's more, you went through the C.O.'s telephone wire!"
Of course, Dad was subsequently absolved of any blame, but until he read the page quoted above, he had no idea who he had nearly killed. Townsend must have been a Pilot Officer in those days, later he became a fighter ace and rose to Group Captain. From 1944 he was Equerry to King George VI, Father of our current sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II. It was during this time as Equerry, that he had his ill-fated love affair with the Queen's beautiful sister, the late Princess Margaret.
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Leonard Bayes . Royal Air Force 18 Squardron My Father, Leonard Bayes joined the RAF in 1935. In the early hours of the 21st of January, 1936, he was a member of the duty crew at RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk when, following the death of King George V at nearby Sandringham, the ill-fated new King, Edward VIII, arrived to fly off to London. He was in no great hurry and chatted pleasantly to the people there, until an official suggested that they really should leave. No doubt the new King was dreading the formalities awaiting him. They then climbed into a De Havilland Rapide and it took off for the Metropolis. Dad therefore witnessed the first ever flight by a reigning Monarch.
Dad served in 18 Squadron at Upper Heyford flying Hawker Harts and at the ourbreak of WWII, he was stationed at Seletar, Singapore with 100 Squadron, equipped with Vickers Vildebeests. Heading home to the UK for training, he stopped off at Egypt, where he helped to re-assemble the long range flight Vickers Wellesleys. He then went on to Crete, where he missed the evacuation and was captured by the Germans. He ended up in Stalag Luft III, and was part of the evacuation March in January 1945. He was eventually repatriated in May 1945.
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Sgt. Ronald Baker Bayes . British Army Royal Artillery
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