Commemorating Royal Signals War Dead – New Page, ‘D’
The Royal Signals casualties whose surnames begin with ‘D’ have now been included on the War Dead page on this website (completed letters are hyperlinked; the documents open as pdfs). They amount to 255 all ranks who died on operations in the inter-war years, in the Second World War and in the campaigns of the post-Second World War period. Included on this list are three members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service who served with Royal Signals, and a Lady Teleprinter Operator of Malaya Command Signals who died in a Japanese internment camp.
The graves of Corporal E. C. Turner and Signalman N. Davies at Manzai Fort cemetery showing their original construction.
The very weathered concrete grave marker for Signalman Norman Davies as it is now at Manzai Fort Cemetery.
The casualties include:
Seventy-five men were killed in action or died of wounds or were killed as a result of terrorist action, including:On the early morning of 9 April 1937, a convoy set out from Manzai Fort destined for the garrison at Wana carrying supplies and some officers and men returning to their units. At about 7.40a.m. it was ambushed at the western end of the Shahur Tangi, a narrow, steep-sided, three-mile long gorge, eight miles west of Jandola. Raiders hidden in the rocks close to the road attacked the convoy along its length causing very heavy casualties but the armoured cars, the infantry escort from 4/16th Punjab Regiment and the other troops with the convoy fought most gallantly and prevented the convoy from being overrun. In the convoy was a detachment from Waziristan District Signals commanded by Corporal E. C. Turner. Corporal Turner and Signalman N. Davies were killed in action, the Indian driver (Signalman Joseph) and Signalman T. Bowkett were wounded,[1] the latter severely, but three other men, Signalmen Bartlett and McKenna and an Indian soldier, escaped unscathed. In total, the attack claimed six British officers and two other ranks (Turner and Davies) killed, five British officers and one other rank (Bowkett) wounded, one Indian medical officer and 20 Indian other ranks killed, and 39 Indian all ranks wounded. You can read about the ambush in the Shahur Tangi here and about Manzai Fort Cemetery here (as casualties outwith the World Wars, their remains were not reinterred in a C.W.G.C. cemetery and Manzai Fort Cemetery is not maintained by the C.W.G.C.).
Signalman J. G. Dart, 2nd Air Formation Signals, was killed on 20 November 1942 during an air raid at Maison Blanche Airfield, Algiers just after the landings in North Africa during Operation Torch. The raid on the harbour and the airfield resulted in the death of 35 all ranks of the Army, Royal Air Force and Merchant Navy. Others from 2nd Air Formation Signals killed at Maison Blanche were Company Quartermaster Serjeant R. Turner and Lance Serjeant J. R. Humpries. Lance Corporal N. F. Alderman, 45th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery Signal Section and Signalman L. J. Wallington, 1st Parachute Brigade Signal Section were also killed in the attack.
Driver J. H. Davies, 4th Army Group Royal Artillery Signal Section, was killed in action on 14 July 1944 when a line maintenance party was attacked by enemy aircraft. Lance Corporal G. G. Hoy, Signalman A. W. Clayton, Signalman S. Radley, and Signalman H. Salad were wounded; for his bravery in Normandy and the aftermath Lance Corporal Hoy was awarded a Military Medal.[2]
During the Aden Emergency in the Federation of South Arabia in operations against dissident tribesmen astride the Lahej-Dhala road in the Thumier area, following a report that four hand grenades had been found hidden under rocks which were placed to block the road, Corporal M. R. Davies, Federal Regular Army Signal Squadron attached to 4th Battalion, Federal Regular Army, volunteered to go out with a Land Rover to assist in road clearing operations. He was killed in action on 3 April 1964 when his vehicle hit a land mine.
In addition, 4 men were killed in action at sea—one during the evacuation from Dunkirk in May 1940, two when R.M.S. Lancastria was sunk in the evacuation from western France on 17 June 1940 and one in the evacuation after the Battle of Greece in April 1941.Forty-four men died as prisoners of war in the Second World War—39 as prisoners of the Japanese and five as prisoners of the western Axis powers. Of the prisoners of the Japanese, the majority died while working as labour on the Thai-Burma Railway but seven prisoners of war were killed in action at sea when ships they were aboard were sunk by Allied submarines and aircraft (over 10,000 Allied prisoners of war were lost at sea in the Far East). One man was killed in action in Europe when the area in which he was working was bombed. In addition, two men were murdered as prisoners of war.Signalman J. K. Davies, 30th Corps Signals, was captured on 25 November 1941 in Operation Crusader during the Western Desert Campaign. Held in Italy until the Italian Armistice, he was transferred to Stalag IV-C near Bystřice in the Sudetenland (now Dubí, Czech Republic). He was killed in action on 12 May 1944 in bombing raid by aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces on the Sudetenländische Treibstoffwerke (Sudetenland Fuel Works) at Brüx (Most, Czech Republic). No fewer than 34 prisoners of war were killed in the raid. This was the first attack by the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe in the ‘Oil Campaign’.
Signalman A. Dawes, formerly No. 28 Wing Signal Section, 2nd Air Formation Signals, was captured on Java in March 1942 during the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. He was part of a large party transported from Batavia (Jakarta) on 22 October 1942 on board S.S. Yoshida Maru to Singapore and then from Singapore on 29 October 1942 on board S.S. Singapore Maru to Moji (Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū), Japan, arriving on 25 November. He died of dysentery on board on 19 November 1942. Over 100 all ranks, including six Royal Signals soldiers, died en route or soon after arriving in Japan due to the awful conditions on the ship. With 334 others who died at Moji, his remains were cremated and interred in a communal urn and at the end of the war transported to Tokyo, and then interred in the British mausoleum at Yokohama. They were finally reinterred on 22 October 1946 at the Yokohama Cremation Memorial, Yokohama War Cemetery, Japan.
Lance Corporal G. W. Dent, formerly No. 83 Medium Wireless Section, 10th Corps Signals, was captured in June 1942 in the Battle of Mersa Matruh during the Western Desert Campaign. Transported to Italy, he was held at Prigione di Guerra 78 (Campo 78) near Sulmona until the Italian Armistice when he escaped with Sapper A. Parker.[3] Having evaded capture for over 150 miles while heading south towards Allied lines, on 12 September 1943 near Cerignola the two men, in an attempt to evade imminent capture, joined a group of 11 Italians, but were immediately captured by German troops. Soon after their capture, Lance Corporal Dent and an Italian were taken away and shot; Parker survived by declaring himself a British escapee, after which the other Italians were murdered. Parker later escaped again and reached Allied lines. Lance Corporal Dent has no known grave and is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt.
Captain P. L. Dudgeon M.C was an early volunteer for Special Forces and took part in raiding operations with No. 62 Commando (Small Scale Raiding Force), for which he was awarded the Military Cross.[4] These included Operation Basalt, the raid on Sark in the Channel Islands that resulted in the German Kommandobefehl (Commando Order) that called for the immediate execution of captured Allied ‘commandos’. Having joined 2nd Special Air Service Regiment, Captain Dudgeon was dropped into the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy on the night of 7/8 September 1943 on Operation Speedwell but he and his partner, Gunner B. O. Brunt,[5] were captured at Passo della Cisa on 2 October 1943. After being interrogated, they were shot the following afternoon, 3 October 1943, close to where they had been captured.[6] Originally buried where they were killed, the remains of both men were reinterred in August 1945 at Florence War Cemetery, Italy.
Five men died in air crashes, including:Signalman C. Dawson, 6th Airborne Divisional Signals, was killed during a training flight on the morning of 7 December 1943 when General Aircraft Hotspur glider, serial BT822, of 2nd Battalion, Glider Pilot Regiment and flying from R.A.F. Netheravon, crashed into a field near Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire just after being released from the tug aircraft. Also killed were Lance Serjeant M. King and Signalmen C. Campbell, S. Jackson, A. Pallett, and H. Simpson and the Glider Pilot Regiment crew, Staff Serjeant E. A. Jeffs and Serjeant P. D. Taylor.
Lieutenant Colonel R. P. G. Denman, who had twice been mentioned in despatches during the First World War, was a specialist in radio countermeasures at the War Office and was attached to No. 109 Squadron, Royal Air Force. While aircraft of the squadron were conducting a V.H.F. radio jamming mission supporting Operation Crusader during the Western Desert Campaign, he and the crew of Vickers Wellington, serial Z8907, were killed on 21 November 1941 when the aircraft was shot down. Originally buried in a common grave near the site of the crash, their remains were reinterred in a collective grave on 26 January 1944 at Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt. His widow, Mrs. C. M. Denman, joined the Signals Directorate of Special Operations Executive from the War Office in December 1942. For the remainder of the war she ran the clerical aspects of the directorate and was appointed an M.B.E. (Civil Division) in 1946.[7]
Fifty-four men died of disease or natural causes, many from diseases that today are readily treatable,Thirty-three died in road traffic accidents, two died in ‘battle accidents’ and 11 men died in various other accidents,Four men took their own lives,One man died as a result of ‘misadventure’—Lance Corporal W. T. Davies from 2nd Parachute Brigade Signal Section who had been engaged in a series of armed robberies with Signalman J. Metheringham and both of whom, whilst resisting arrest, were shot and killed by two members of the Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali, which acted as a security and police force in support of the Allied forces after the Italian Armistice. Regardless of the manner of their deaths, they are considered war casualties and both men are commemorated by the C.W.G.C. and in the Royal Signals Roll of Honour.Six men drowned while swimming when off duty,Four men died as a result of the negligent discharge of a weapon,Fourteen men died of unknown causes. These were mostly men who died after the war had ended but in the period of post-war commemoration, and most probably died of disease or natural causes.Also included are three members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service serving with Royal Signals—one died of disease/natural causes, one was killed n an accident and Section Leader V. M. Divey who was killed in action on 17 October 1940 in an air raid at Fort Bridgewoods when a bomb exploded beside the lorry in which she was a passenger. Also killed were Volunteers G. M. E. Alrich and I. M. Sparrow.Finally, also included is Lady Teleprinter Operator S. A. Daniel of Malaya Command Signals. Having escaped from Singapore in February 1942 during the Malayan Campaign/Battle of Singapore, she was captured in Sumatra and held at Palembang Women’s Camp, where she died on 25 August 1945, aged 44. Mrs. Daniel is the only such C.W.G.C. commemoration.1. (Back) 2324319 Signalman Thomas Bowkett; and 8880 Signalman Joseph. Signalman Bowkett recovered from his wounds in England before returning to India to join ‘A’ Corps Signals. During the Second World War he served as the section sergeant of ‘M’ Section, 6th Airborne Divisional Signals; he was wounded in action by mortar fire in the breakout from Normandy on 25 June 1944. On 25 March 1945 Sergeant Thomas Bowkett died of wounds received the previous day during Operation Varsity, the crossing of the River Rhine. Originally buried in a cemetery at Gildern-Kappellen, his remains were reinterred in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery on 19 November 1946.
2. (Back) Military Medal. 2360982 Lance Corporal George Gill Hoy, 4th Army Group Royal Artillery Signal Section, First Canadian Army. Lance Corporal Hoy has commanded a line detachment in this headquarters with outstanding success throughout operations on the continent, and it is greatly due to his untiring efforts that communications between my headquarters and regiments have been so good; he has never spared himself and has been an example to all around him. On one occasion on 14th July 1944, whilst on line maintenance his party was attacked by enemy aircraft: his driver was killed and he himself (and three other members of his detachment) was wounded. In spite of his wound Lance Corporal Hoy remained in charge and helped with the evacuation of the other wounded, until he himself became unconscious. LG 11 October 1945; 37302, p. 5002.
3. (Back) 1877817 Sapper Alfred Parker had been captured on Operation Colossus, the raid in February 1941 by ‘X’ Troop, 11th Special Air Service Battalion at Tragino in southern Italy. For his escape he was mentioned in despatches (LG 15 June 1944; 36563, p. 2855); the recommendation records the killing of Lance Corporal Dent.
4. (Back) Military Cross. 131676 Lieutenant Patrick Laurence Dudgeon, No. 62 Commando (Small Scale Raiding Force). Operation Dryad—Les Casquets, and Operation Basalt—Sark, Channel Islands, European Theatre, 1942. Lieutenant Dudgeon has shown himself to be a most trustworthy and reliable officer, and to be possessed of resourcefulness and determination in action. In addition to the power of leadership which he has displayed, he speaks fluent German, and proved himself invaluable on Operation Dryad when it was necessary to interrogate German prisoners. On this operation Lieutenant Dudgeon’s task consisted of entering one of the buildings alone and overcoming any resistance met with; he took two prisoners in this building and whilst holding them up extracted useful information from them regarding the disposition of arms, number of men on the post and other details. He has proved to be at all times cheerful and willing and to be a brave and courageous officer. Lieutenant Dudgeon also took part in Operation Basalt and as one of those trying the doors and windows of the houses entered did excellently. He was also invaluable as an interpreter. L.G. 15 December 1942; 35821, p. 5437.
Despatches (Posthumous). 131676 Captain Patrick Laurence Dudgeon. 2nd Special Air Service Regiment. Operation Speedwell— Emilia-Romagna. Italian Campaign. L.G. 30 August 1945; 37244. Rank corrected in L.G. 23 January 1947; 37861.
5. (Back) 1800118 Gunner Bernard Oliver Brunt, Royal Regiment of Artillery.
6. (Back) For a detailed account of their service and death see X. QGM, Ex-Lance Corporal. (2016). The SAS and LRDG Roll of Honour 1941-47. Privately Published. Vol. 2, pp. 145-151.
6. (Back) M.B.E. (Civil Division). Mrs. Charlotte Mathilde Denman. Clerical Assistant, Signals Directorate, Special Operations Executive, Home Forces. L.G. 1 January 1946; 37412, p. 291.
