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WW2 & Hooe – The War Memorial


The Plaque in Hooe Church.

I was very surprised when I saw a rather small, very plain and very ordinary marble plaque in Hooe Church, with 1939-1945 engraved at the top, followed by just three names and, finally, the words "Rest in Peace" underneath. An even smaller, separate, piece of marble, bearing the word ALSO followed by the name of a fourth man, was just in front of the larger of the two and both placed on a shelf.

I′d never really taken in what was written on memorials and to find just names on this one, as I say, surprised me. I suppose I expected to see dates of death, some idea as to which of the forces they were in, and, perhaps, the particular theatre of war in which they lost their lives. As it was there wasnt much to remember them by.

From correspondence I read, though the men and their families had lived in the village,they had moved away before the war started and the Parish Council didnt feel that any form of a collection would bring in enough money to cover the cost of any memorial and it seems they were right. Because of this, I decided that I would do my own research into these men in order to add some of the things that I would have liked to have seen there. Little did I know just how much work I was letting myself in for nor just how sad and, at times, distressing would be the findings. I′m glad I did my own research, and went as deeply into it as I was able, because, while I can′t say that I know the men, I do feel that they are not strangers to me and I think I understand, better, just how much they gave for us, our country, and our world.

When I started, I expected that these ordinary men would have lost their lives in ordinary ways or at least the ordinary ways of war, as depicted in the old movies a shot rings out and the soldier drops down dead , end of story - but, no, what I found was quite the reverse totally unexpected and dreadfully sad.

From various pieces of correspondence, the original intention of the Council seemed to be to add the names to the existing WWI memorial but a stonemason, asked to look at the possibility of doing so, advised against it and suggested a separate, smaller tablet. Theres a drawing of the proposed tablet which, on comparison with the actual one in the church, was never made. In fact, as can be seen in the photograph above, there are two, separate WWII tablets; one has three names engraved on it and the smaller has only one.

It would seem most likely that a tablet for Jack Burton, Ernest Stubberfield, and Raymond J. Martin was made, then, subsequently, it was agreed to add the name of Bernhard Stanley Codd but the new tablet was too small so a second, smaller one had to be supplied.

In the Lewes Record Office, under reference no. PAR 382-04-02-03, there′s some correspondence between individuals and the Parochial Chucrh Council, concerning the addition of the names. For several reasons, one being that these men had left the Parish before war started and, therefore, werent eligible, and a another being the problem of how to raise the finance, the Council didnt see how they could add the names.

For those interested, I have added, in a separate ′PDF′ file, transcriptions of the original documents; the quotation and drawing of the proposed marble tablet from the stonemasons and the correspondence, all arranged in date order and numbered.

Just click on the link."Correspondence"

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