GEOFFERY BERNARD HAWKSLEY
1939 -1945
Geoffrey was born in London on 1st December 1920 and was the second son of Charles Worthington and Joan Constance Hawksley. He had an elder brother Mark Seaton and two younger brothers Adrian Charles Theodore, and Robert Francis and a sister Janet Mary.
Geoffrey was nine years old when he came to live at Cherwell in Bulmer Street. He went with his brother Mark to preparatory school in Norfolk, and for his secondary schooling he was a boarder at King Edward VI school in Bury St Edmunds.
In 1937 he left school and joined the Merchant Navy as a clerk to the Purser on the S.S Highland Princess.
In 1939 he volunteered for the RAF, as aircrew, and was trained as an observer. On Sep 3rd 1939 he was with the wellington Bomber Squadron at RAF Stradishall.
During the early part of the war he took part in "leaflet rains" inwhich bombers dropped leaflets urging the Germans to make peace. In the autumn of 1940 he volunteered for the Middle East,but unfortunate a decision was made in London to send a squadron of bombers to Greece to assist the Greeks against the Italian invasion of Albania.
On the evening of Nov. 17th`l940 he took off and in the early hours of the morning of the 18th his aircraft at 0400 hrs crashed into a hillside within Yugoslavia near the town of Podgorica, a region of notoriously bad weather.,
The wife of the British Consul at Split wrote to his parents and sent photographs of the funeral procession and the grave at Podgorica. After the war the coffins were moved to Belgrade War Grave Cemetery.
By all accounts Geoffrey was a lively and popular person who liked to play the piano and was a good amateur artist. The loss of Geoffrey's aircraft is recorded in a book published during the war entitled "Wings Over Olympus" although Geoffrey is not named.
In St.James's Cathedral in Bury St.Edmunds Ge0ffrey's name is on a memorial tablet listing all those boys who lost their lives in World War 2. It is located near the organ on the north wall.
In 1940, he was posted to the Middle East, and in the October his squadron was sent to Greece to assist the Greeks against the possibility of an Italian invasion from Albania.
Rank: Sergeant
Trade: Obs.
Service No: 580826
Date of Death: 18/11/1940
Age: 19
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force 70 Sqdn.
Grave Reference: Coll. grave 2. E. 5-8.
Cemetery:
Additional Information:
Son of Charles Worthington Hawksley and Joan Constance Seaton Hawksley, of Bulmer, Essex