NAVY NEWS, AUGUST 2007 17
Admiral needs ● The Volunteer Band of The camera
tomb aiders
RNAS Culdrose leads a march
by air station personnel
through the streets of nearby never lies...
Helston to celebrate the
RESIDENTS of a small town establishment’s 60th birthday.
NAVAL police north of the
in County Down are hoping to As the sailors and aircrew
border are following the lead of
commemorate one of Nelson’s marched along Coinagehall
their English brethren by donning
‘band of brothers’ – and one of
Street they were honoured miniature ‘head cams’ to record
Ireland’s fi nest sailors.
with a flypast by Culdrose- their patrols around Faslane,
Henry Blackwood, who was
based helicopters and Helensburgh, Dumbarton.
born in Killyleagh in 1770, was
aircraft, while Helston Mayor RN Police in Devonport and
just 35 when he led the frigate
Cllr Ronnie Williams and air a growing number of civilian
force, headed by his own HMS
station Commanding Officer forces as well as customs officers
Euryalus, into battle with the
Capt Philip Thicknesse took are using the cameras to gather
French at Trafalgar.
the salute. evidence, downloaded on to a
Blackwood’s career after
The people of Helston computer system after a patrol.
1805 was equally distinguished;
initially opposed the The cameras – worn on the
he rose to eventually become
Admiralty’s plans to set up an side of the head just above an ear
Vice Admiral Sir Henry
airfield outside their town. – are only switched on by naval
Blackwood.
But within a dozen years officers once an incident begins
He was buried in St John’s
they had bestowed the – and the footage cannot be
Parish Church, Killyleagh,
freedom of the market town tampered with. It is also deleted
in 1832 – the only Trafalgar
upon the airbase. after 31 days if no action is taken.
captain interred in Ireland.
And six decades on from
“This is the way forward for
Now his tomb urgently needs
its commissioning, Culdrose
21st-Century policing,” said
restoration. The community
remains the biggest employer
Lt Mark May, Naval Provost
group Killyleagh Social
in the area.
Marshal (Northern).
Partnership is hoping to honour
As part of the diamond
“It protects everyone involved,
Blackwood and all the Irishmen
anniversary events at
unless you have committed a
who fought at Trafalgar.
Culdrose itself, air base
criminal act, in which case it
John Huddleston, secretary
personnel paraded in front
provides irrefutable evidence.”
of the Killyleagh Social
of Second Sea Lord Vice
Partnership, explained:
Admiral Adrian Johns
“Blackwood was a famous
– also Rear Admiral Fleet Liverpool to
sea captain, and although his
Air Arm – who praised their
naval exploits were honoured
professionalism, but he added
in his day, we’re in danger of
that there was no guarantee the rescue
forgetting them as time goes
the air station would be
on.”
around in six decade’s time to
DESTROYER HMS Liverpool
He added: “We want to raise
celebrate its 120th birthday.
broke off from weapons trials off
a statue to Blackwood and
Ceremonial divisions were
Portland to rescue a stranded
all the many Irish sailors who
followed by a drumhead
motor boat.
fought at Trafalgar, to make
service honouring Culdrose
The engines of the Blue
sure they are all remembered as
airmen who have given their
Rose, with four people aboard,
they should be.”
lives for their country over the
packed up 25 miles south-west of
The plan is to excavate
past 60 years.
Portland Bill.
Blackwood’s impressive tomb,
Such sacrifices have not
Liverpool dispatched her sea
which is over six feet high but
been in vain; Culdrose-based
boat and four sailors, including
currently covered in earth to
search and rescue teams
two engineers to fix the engine
protect it, and to erect a statue
alone have flown more than
– which they did since Blue Rose
by the town harbour inscribed
7,000 missions during their
returned to Weymouth at 35kts
with all the names of his fellow
time at the Cornish air base.
for permanent repairs, while
Irish sailors.
Hawk jets roared overhead as
Picture: LA(Phot) Carl Osmond,
The admiral’s hometown,
RNAS Culdrose
Liverpool resumed air defence
population about 2,500, was
exercises.
the focal point for the Trafalgar
200 celebrations in 2005, and
Killyleagh Castle was the site of
the Northern Ireland Beacon lit
by the Earl of Wessex.
For further information, or to
send a donation, the contact
is John Huddleston, Killyleagh
Social Partnership, 4 Strangford
Avenue, Killyleagh, BT30 9UJ or
e-mail john.h64@ukonline.co.uk
Back to the beaches
THE hallowed sands and
by William, have set free the words. The emotional highs and The attack claimed the lives of
bocage of Normandy were
conqueror’s fatherland. lows of the weekend will, I’m sure, 130 of Quorn’s complement, many
the destination for more
From Bayeux it was a short fade. But the memories will never of whom were buried ashore.
coach ride to the foot of the leave any of us.” It is at their graves in Normandy
than two dozen reservists Cotentin peninsula and the village ■ THE ship’s company of that today’s men of Quorn intend
on a D-Day pilgrimage.
of St Mère Église, scene of an minehunter HMS Quorn plan to to pay their respects, on Trafalgar
Part-time sailors from Ceres
American parachute drop on D- hold a commemorative service in Day or October 22.
Division, the Leeds-based
Day – and where a paratrooper France in October to honour their There is no Quorn association,
subordinate unit of HMS
was caught on the church spire forebears. but survivors of the 1944 Quorn
Sherwood, joined their Nottingham
and dangled precariously from it The previous Quorn was sunk or their relatives are invited to
comrades, plus counterparts from
while his comrades secured the off Normandy in August 1944 join the present-day sailors for the
Eaglet, Calliope, Flying Fox and
heart of the village. during a night-time assault by ceremony in France. They should
Offi cer Training Corps cadets from
Today, in his honour, a dummy German E-boats, motorboats contact Lt Cdr Stephen Walton,
Leeds University on a weekend’s
is suspended from the church crammed with explosives, and Executive Officer, HMS Quorn,
tour of the invasion beaches and
– although, as a café owner human torpedoes. BFPO 366.
environs.
explained to the Brits, the dummy
Barely had the ferry from
hangs from the wrong side of the
Portsmouth docked in Ouistreham
tower… so tourists can take a
than the 29-strong party was
better photograph of him. THE
ashore and enjoying breakfast in
A stone’s throw from St Mère
the Pegasus Bridge café.
Église lies Utah Beach, the next
DUKE OF YORK’S ROYAL MILITARY
The neighbouring bridge
port of call for the reservists,
was the fi rst Allied success of
then it was across the Vire estuary
SCHOOL
June 6 1944, seized by British
to Pointe du Hoc – where US
Rangers stormed the cliffs only to
paratroopers in the small hours
fi nd the gun emplacements at the
of that fateful Tuesday (the bridge
top empty.
itself no longer spans the Caen
The (non-existent) guns of
canal, but forms the centrepiece of
Pointe du Hoc were intended to
a museum).
defend the approaches to Omaha
Suitably satiated and immersed
Beach, four miles to the east.
in Normandy history, the battlefi eld
The American assault at ‘Bloody
tourists drove along the Calvados
Omaha’ has been immortalised on
shore to Arromanches, site of
celluloid in The Longest Day and,
Gold Beach in 1944 and today
most vividly, in Saving Private
still the resting place of remnants
Ryan, but for the sailors, the scale
of the Mulberry harbours which
of the sacrifi ce truly hit home at
served the invading forces so well
the sprawling American military
six decades ago.
cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer,
Sunday began with all the
which overlooks Omaha.
party dressed in their fi nest at
“Only at this moment did the
the Commonwealth War Graves
price that the Americans paid in
Cemetery on the edge of Bayeux
blood on D-Day start to really sink
– the fi nal resting place of 4,648
in,” said Ceres Division’s AB Andy
servicemen – where a wreath
Mitchell. ‘More than a school to me’
was laid and prayers were said in His colleague AB Shuttleworth
honour of the fallen. Few places agreed. “To visit Normandy is
better capture the sacrifi ces made possibly the only way to take in
by the men of 1944, not least
For further information contact:The Headmaster, The Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover, Kent, CT15 5EQ.
the enormity of what was achieved
thanks to the inscription: Nos over sixty years ago.
Tel:+0044 (0)1304 245024 Mil: 94284 5024 Fax:+0044 (0)1304 245019 Mil Fax: 94284 5019
a Gulielmo victi victoris patriam “I must admit there were
E-mail: headmaster@doyrms.com Website: www.doyrms.mod.uk
liberavimus – we, once conquered occasions when I was lost for
NNEW NEW 017_NN_Aug.indd 1EW NEW 017_NN_Aug.indd 1 225/7/07 13:26:415/7/07 13:26:41
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