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East Grinstead McEndoe Burns Unit
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Want to know more about East Grinstead McEndoe Burns Unit? There are:-1 items tagged East Grinstead McEndoe Burns Unit available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Pte. Clifford Frederick Lewis Copping Royal Sussex Regiment In April 1940, my father Clifford Frederick Lewis Copping of Southcroft Rd Tooting, South London lied about his age to join the army and enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was just 17 and had become Private 6405092 Copping. He spent the first few weeks training (I think) near Wincanton and then six weeks guarding a railway tunnel and had a short spell in Northern Ireland.
One incident that happened during this period was when a barrack bully kept picking on someone for no reason and my dad didn't like the way it was going, so he floored the guy with one punch. Just as the guy hit the floor the Regimental Sergeant Major happened to pass by and asked who was responsible for the blow. My Dad owned up and was immediately placed on the regimental boxing team! A few days later he found himself in the ring sitting opposite someone by the name (I think) of Tonner - who happened to be from a family of very good amateur boxers on civvy street. All my Dad can remember is the bell sounding for the first round and then the lights suddenly went out! His budding army boxing career had sadly been terminated.
Back to the war his unit was posted to HMS Peregrine RNAS Ford Aerodrome in Sussex. Here he was stationed in an anti-aircraft gun pit and assigned the job of radio operator. Whilst at Ford - he volunteered to undertake "Glider Pilot Training" which I understand went on near High Wycombe. Had he been accepted and completed the training he would almost certainly seen action in both Normandy and Arneham.
During the Battle of Britain, on 18th August at about 4.30 pm the airfield was attacked by a squadron of Junkers 87B "Stuka" divebombers. The Germans had mistakenly thought it to be an operational base rather than the training station it was. One of the Stukas attacked his gun pit and dropped its bomb just short of its target. The explosion killed the British officer in charge of my father's pit instantly and when the rescue party arrived they found my Dad buried up to his neck in sand from the punctured sandbags surrounding him. He recalled them saying "Here's Copping's head -where's the rest of him?" After digging him out he was found to have numerous shrapnel wounds all over his body and some burns to his back. As he lay on a stretcher waiting for transportation to hospital he heard the "last rights" being read out and thought he was going to die - only to realise that it was in fact some poor devil next to him instead. Altogether 18 people were killed in this air raid and there were a number of casualties. He later found out that the pilot of the Stuka was killed in action whilst flying on the Russian Front.
He spent the next 11 months in hospital at Chichester (where unbeknown to him at the same time his future wife Mavis was evacuated in a house whose garden backed onto the hospital). During his time in hospital he was given a lot of quinine which rotted his teeth and caused him to be toothless by the time he was 21! Having also been burned he also received treatment at the famous burns centre at East Grinstead and received pigskin grafts pioneered by the famous Dr McEndoe.
At the end of his hospitalisation he was deemed "unfit for service" on health grounds and honourably discharged. He spent the rest of war working for the London County Council LCC driving bombed out families and their possessions to safer parts of the country.
In 1948 he married my mother Mavis Woodard, also of Tooting and they had three children. He worked for both Martin's and Barclays Banks and retired early to care for my mother who had MS. He died in June 2000.
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Sgt. Harold William Curwain 420 Squadron.    Harold Curwain was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on 13th August 1919.
He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force on 1st of November 1940. He trained as an armourer in Toronto, Trenton and Rivers Manitoba. He came to England arriving on 27th February 1942. No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre on the 10th of March 1942, and was taken on strength at 420 Squadron on 9th April 1942 as an armourer. Harold remained with this squadron until 4th December 1942 when he went on strength with 407 Squadron.
Once here, he requested and was granted to re-muster to aircrew as an air gunner. He transferred to No. 14 ITW on 27th February 1943. He transferred to the Air Gunners School on 10th April 1943 and then to 2 Air Gunners School on 30th April 1943.
He transferred to 22 Operational Training Unit on No. 45 course. He remained here until transferred to 311 Ferry Training Unit, based at Moreton-in-Marsh on 27th August 1943. He was promoted to Flight Sgt in April 1943 and was posted back to 420 Squadron as an air gunner in September 1943.
Then on 23rd and 24th September 1943 he flew to Formia Tunisia via Sale and Kairouan with Sgt Foy in Wellington Bomber LN-513 as part of 420 Squadron. He remained in Tunisia until the squadron returned to England and reequipped with the Halifax bomber.
During most of 1944 he was posted back to 62 Base (Beaver) at Linton-on-Ouse. He was posted to 1664 Communications Unit at Dishforth from 19th December 1943 till 28th January 1944. However, Harold returned to 420 Squadron in November 1944. He became a Warrant officer One in March 1943 and then Warrant Officer Two in September 1944. He was promoted to Pilot Officer in February 1945 and finally to Flight Officer in August 1945.
He crashed on one occasion and was burned from the waist down. Harold was treated for burns at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead and became a member of the Guinea Pig Club.
His missions included:
- 12 Dec 1944 flying with P/O. Reid (Halifax) NA169 (O) target Gaggle DCO.
- 24 Dec 1944 - Fl/Lt. Jones (Halifax) NA188 (E) Dusseldorf Airdrome
- 28 Dec 1944 - Fl/Lt. Jones (Halifax) NA188 (E) Diversion to Base (note
Halifax NA188 was lost of operation to Magdeburg 16th January 1945 - 5 crew killed, 2 PoW)
- 29 Dec 1944 - F/O. McKeown (Halifax) NA178 (R) Spich
- 22 Jan1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NR117 (S) F/A A/A DCO (note:
Halifax NR177 lost on operation whilst with 158 Squadron to Worms on 21st February 1945 - all 7 crew PoW.
- 13 Feb 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NR117 (S) Bohlen
- 14 Feb 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NR117 (S) Mendelsham to base
- 14 Feb 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NR117 (S) Chemnitz
- 17 Feb 1945 - P/O. Reid (Halifax) NA184 (W) Wesel
- 18 Feb 1945 - P/O. Reid (Halifax) NA184 (W) Diversion to base
- 20 Feb 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NA184 (W) Monheim (note: Halifax
NA184 PT-W was lost on an operation to Chemnitz on the 05th March 1945 after crash landing near Dishforth, England - 4 crew killed, 3 injured.)
- 21 Feb 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NA178 (R) Worms
- 23 Feb 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NA178 (R) Essen
- 24 Feb 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NA178 (R) Kamen
- 10 Mar 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NA178 (R) F/A A/S Radar
- 11 Mar 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NA178 (R) Essen
- 13 Mar 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NA178 (R) Wuppertal
- 15 Mar 1945 - Fl/Lt. Buchanan (Halifax) NR117 (S) Castrop Rauxel
- 3 Apr 1945 - P/O. Cole (Halifax) NZ423 (B) A/S A/C bombing
- 4 Apr 1945 - P/O. Cole (Halifax) NZ423 (B) Harbourg
- 6 Apr 1945 - P/O. Cole (Halifax) NZ423 (B) A/S H/S Bombing
- 8 Apr 1945 - P/O. Cole (Halifax) NR951 (Y) Hamburg
- 9 Apr 1945 - P/O. Cole (Halifax) Diversion to Base
- 30 Apr 1945 - P/O. Cole (Halifax) X/C A/S Bombing
- 1 May 1945 - P/O. Cole (Lancaster) N.F.A Bomb.
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