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Its been a while since I did a thread, so its about time we put that right. As many of you know, I'm a football fan and for my non-league fix, I support @DulwichHamletFC and have been a season ticket holder there now for a number of years. As anyone who watches non-league knows..
it has a way of sucking you in and getting involved in a way that league football can rarely achieve. At Dulwich, I quickly became aware of the immense pride and genuine interest that the club and many of our fans have in the wartime past, especially in the former players and
officials who lost their lives in two World Wars. The club lost no fewer than 22 players during the Great War of 1914-1918 and (we thought) a further four during the 1939-1945 conflict, all of whom are commemorated on the club's roll of honour which is located in the boardroom.
My friend and fellow supporter @RogerDeason has written two volumes on the club's Great War dead and history and I have made a small contribution to bringing our Second World War dead back into the consciousness of our supporters. I mentioned earlier that as far as we were aware,
the club had lost four players during WW2, all of whom served in the RAF as aircrew. These were Eric Pierce, a Junior who had made one or two wartime appearances for the senior side before losing his life in a flying accident whilst in training with 16 EFTS in October 1941. The..
second was Ron Ebsworth, a popular figure at the club, who was killed in November 1941 whilst serving with 214 Squadron as a Wireless Op/Air Gunner on a raid to Hamburg. The third player to feature on the Second World War Roll of Honour was an England Amateur International,
Reg Anderson, a hugely talented player, who died aged just 25 whilst serving with 106 Squadron in February 1942 as an Observer on a minelaying mission. The final name on the original memorial is another England Amateur International and another who had become very popular at the
club during his short stay there since moving to London for work reasons (these players were all avowed amateurs). This was Billy Parr, who died in March 1942 whilst serving as a pilot with 233 Squadron, Coastal Command. Since the book was written though, two further WW2 losses..
came to light. These were Charles Ede, who may have been omitted from the memorial as he had left the club by the time of his death. Charles died in Algeria in November 1942 whilst serving with the Royal Artillery. The other player omitted from the memorial was acknowledged by...
the club as having played for the senior side in wartime football, so his omission was slightly more mysterious. This was Allan Adams, another junior who had broken through to play senior football in the wartime league, who died in September 1944 during Operation Market Garden..
at the very young age of 19 whilst serving as a glider pilot. These two omitted players were added to the war memorial last November, thus correcting an error made perhaps in the confusion of war. However, that is still not the end of the story, as we have recently been made...
aware of yet another junior player who lost his life whilst serving with the RAF. This is Jimmy Hoather, a resident of Tooting at the time of his death, although originally hailing from Camberwell. Jimmy was a prolific school sportsman, represent Ensham Central Middle School in
Tooting as a footballer, athlete and cricketer. Football was his real love and he would play whenever he was able to. He joined Dulwich Hamlet as a junior and appeared during the 1939/40 Season when the side won the London Minor FA Cup and can be seen in the back row, top right..
in the photograph. In common with many of his Hamlet team mates, Jimmy volunteered to serve as aircrew with the RAF and after completing his training as a pilot, was posted to 58 Squadron at RAF St Eval, flying Halifax bombers on maritime patrol duties. On 10 April 1943, Jimmy..
was recommended for a Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) following a sortie to locate a German blockade runner in the Bay of Biscay. He successfully achieved this, despite his aircraft being attacked by Ju-88 and ensured that Allied forces were homed in to attack the enemy convoy.
Jimmy's DFM was gazetted on 9 May 1943 but sadly, on this same date, Jimmy and his entire crew were posted as missing. After the war upon examining enemy records, it emerged that Jimmy's aircraft which had been on anti-submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay, had attacked U-666 on
the surface whilst the U-Boat was heading for its patrol position in the North Atlantic. After being driven off by strong anti-aircraft fire from the submarine on its first attack, the Halifax made a second attempt but was hit on one of its port engines. Losing control, the..
aircraft crashed in the sea about 500 metres from the submarine, with no survivors to be seen in the water. Jimmy and his crew are today remembered on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede and it is to be hoped that we will be able to add his name to the club's roll of honour in
November at our annual remembrance ceremony./END
