Page 20 - Phonebox Magazine August 2007

Olney Town Council hosts the Second Veterans’ Day – June 27th 2007
On Wednesday June 27th the second as a Veteran of the Kings Own Scottish to Cyprus to deal with emergencies in that
Veterans’ Day was hosted by Olney Town Council in The Olney Centre.
At 1.00pm Captain John Stewart brought the Veterans and guests to order and invited the Mayor, Cllr. John Smail, to give the welcoming address.
In his address to the Veterans John initially thanked the Clerk and Deputy Clerk and those Councillors able to attend and their wives for acting as hosts and hostesses at the event. He then went on to welcome the Veterans and the forces they represented together with their guests. John reminded everyone present that Veterans’ Day is a special opportunity each year to thank all those who served in Her Majesty’s Forces prior to 1939 and until 1959, for their contribution to our life in the UK today. He was able to introduce some interesting and humorous facts about his own experiences
Borderers Regiment where he was stationed with them in Singapore and Malaya from 1955 to 1957, which clearly registered with a number of those present.
Captain John Stewart then replied on behalf of the Veterans. John joined the Royal Marines in 1941 and was involved in the Dieppe raid in 1942 where he suffered his first wounding. He quickly recovered and in July 1943 was the first person ashore in Sicily where he undertook raids on the Italian coast with Commandos culminating in the landing at Solermo where he was badly wounded and invalided home. After the Second World War ended he undertook normal duties with the Marines and served on HMS Implacable, the flagship of the training squadron. He was posted to 45 Commandos in 1955 to Malta and then on
country. Unfortunately he was blown up by a bomb whilst travelling in his land- rover and lost his hearing. John was then invalided out of the service and resumed farming in Weston Underwood. John warmly thanked Olney Town Council for hosting the event once again and hoped that it would remain a fixture in the Town Council’s calendar as it was much appreciated by the Veterans and their guests.
John then passed over to the Chairman of the Local Branch of the Royal British Legion, Philip Maxwell, who presented the Mayoress Peggy Smail, with a splendid bouquet of flowers.
This was once again followed by a finger buffet, which gave Veterans the opportunity to meet up and talk to old friends and colleagues. K
The Mayor and Mayoress Cllr. John and Peggy Smail.
Edward Ellis.
Captain John Stewart replies following the speech by Olney Town Mayor John Smail.
The Mayor, Mayoress and Captain John Stewart greet Owen Kendall. Owen was a member of the Parachute Regiment and was flown into France on ‘D’ Day and parachuted into Ranville in Normandy.
Bill and Doris Howson. Bill was in the army at the start of World War II and was in Dunkirk in May 1940 where he was captured by the Germans. He was taken as a Prisoner of War to Danzieg (now Gdansk) in Poland. Later on he was moved, still as a Prisoner of War, to Germany to avoid being captured by the Russians. Whilst a Prisoner of War in Germany a small group including Bill escaped and he spent the next three months on foot eventually reaching Dunkirk where he eventually found an English Battalion and was flown back home. By this time it was 1945.
Edwin and Iris Cawley. Edwin served in the Army and landed in Normandy in 1944. He moved through France and over the Rhine into Northern Germany where he was involved in an incident, probably hitting a mine, and was hospitalised for over 12 weeks.
Mayor of Olney with our MP Mark Lancaster.
20 Phonebox Magazine