D-DAY
ONE MAN`S STORY
E A S T B O U R N E
2 8 T H
J U N E
2 0 1 5
S uss e x S u bma ri n e r pre s ent ed wi t h pr est i g o us Fr ench Awa r d
Walk along Eastbourne`s seafront usually after the holiday
season is over, what the locals call “the quiet time” and you
will see those who have reached a time in their life when their
working days are over and relaxation has become the order of
the day. The astute observer will see them sitting quietly; maybe
reflecting on what is past, perhaps with a glint of sadness or a
smile showing a personal momentary thought that they might
treasure. You might feel sorry for them, be careful, they might
have a story to tell that would chill or even thrill you to the core.
For example, I know of one lady, now in
her 90`s, who worked at Bletchley Park
during the war and is thrilled to relate her
tale of how she made certain war leaders,
including Churchill, wait for her team
to encrypt the signals intercepted from
Enigma coding machines of the German
Afrika Corps.. Especially, she says, any
coming personally from Field Marshal
Rommel`s secretary, he was always
anxious to receive those! She talks of
the Field Marshal as though he was her
next door neighbour, which I suppose
in some sense he was! Another man of
the same age was a British Intelligence
Officer, seconded to the 506th American
Parachute Group attacked by the German
26th VG Division at Bastogne during the
Battle of the Bulge, it was Christmas 1944.
“We thought the war was nearly over, we
had a bit of a shock”, he says quietly,”
terrible disaster, all those lads, thinking of
Christmas, waiting to go home, most of
them didn`t even see the end of the war”.
So you never know who these people are!
If you saw Mr Pat Thomas, now age 90,
you would probably think the same. A
lovely old man with a tidy grey beard and a
twinkle in his eye and yes, as we shall find
out, he too has a story to tell.
When I moved to Eastbourne, about
sixteen years ago, to be amongst likeminded souls, I joined the Sussex Branch
of the Submariners Association. We
met once a month had “a tot or two”,
chatted about our time beneath the waves
and in general re-established a level of
comradeship that we knew in the Service,
something we all missed. A few members
had seen service during World War 2, Pat
was one of them and, like most men of his
time, would seldom mention that fact.
In May of this year, as Chairman of the
Branch, I was approached by a relative of
Pat`s and he told me that Pat had been
awarded a very high honour by the French
Government. Pat had not mentioned this
fact to any of us. Let me take time here to
tell you what it was and the significance of
this particular award.
Arrival Colonel Richards, President of Eastbourne Combined Services, Mayor of Eastbourne and Lord Lieutenant
72
Pat was to receive the very prestigious
French Award of Chevalier de l`Ordre