Trevor LEE 1894-1946 R I P (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, October 29, 2012, 15:26 (4411 days ago) @ slowhands

Hi Nigel,
I'm sorry your Grandfather was omitted from the Church Roll of Honour altho' hopefully it was some consolation he received a proper funeral and burial in his home town, and has subsequently been listed on the website Roll.
As Slowhand says such omissions were not unusual, I've experienced this wrt my own line from WW1. I supposed that this was because the Roll of Honour was perhaps undertaken in a semi-official manner rather than by the Authorities who should? know the full facts. Then again perhaps in some cases the deceased or their family requested it, much like wanting an unmarked grave ?

Please note I'm no expert at all in this area and I've not seen this particular Roll, this is just my gut feelings.

I do have experience of the WW1 Roll at Longhope Church, superbly detailed here:
http://www.longhopevillage.co.uk/history/worldwar1/
This states it was "Erected by the Parishioners of Longhope, in Memory of Those who fell in the Great War, 1914-1918". There is another Plaque for those who fought (not died) in the War, so clearly the locals wanted to "do the right thing".
However I know of at least one omission that did occur, so ???

Also in the Village is a separate much more recent War Memorial statute initially planned wrt to WW2.
http://www.longhopevillage.co.uk/history/worldwar2/
This also carries names from the 1970s which I think relate to the Troubles in Ireland.
So not particularly biased to any particular War, but of course circumstances will vary between different areas, all of which have the best intentions.

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However regarding your Grandfather I suspect the date 1946 maybe key ?

The Second World War has officially finished. Perhaps the Roll of Honour had already been commissioned, or maybe someone decided that a soldier who had gallantly laid down his life for his country still, sadly, didn't "qualify" for a Roll that MAY have been World War biased...?.
In fact I've spent my life studying British Military History and 20+ years working in our Defence industry, yet until very recently I hadn't known about the actions in Palestine in the late 40s, perhaps it wasn't considered important or relevant by some who were maybe tired of all things War related ?.

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I don't know what you know about your Grandfather's unit, or his Service History which is not available to me (too recent + I'm not related) altho I suspect you know it. That might even help explain his omission from the Roll. I note from his age he was presumably a senior so highly regarded member of the Regiment, I'm sure his Service Record and even circumstances of his death from Battery Diaries will be well documented at the RA Museum ?.

Hopefully this is of interest from an initial internet search which found these few clues:
Searching "300 Bty, 83rd Field Regt" suggests your Grandfather's Unit may have been something of an "elite" light/airborne unit, which may explain their long distance deployment to Palestine.
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Palestine/units.html (cannot copy & paste but search "800" gives mention of "300 Battery, 2 Airlanding Light Regiment, RA".

Before this their fellow/founder? Unit of the 83rd Field Regt, 53 Airlanding Light Regt, was deployed on D-Day itself, seemingly as part of the Parachute Brigade (in which one of my line gave his life that day).
http://britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/Java.htm

This site explains the organisation and tactics of the Royal Artillery in great detail, and states:
"the strength of the Field branch (including anti-tank) of RA in mid 1943 was about 232,000. The Regiment suffered some 31,000 killed during the course of the war.
Of the 630 or so regiments about 240 were field artillery, excluding about 60 anti-tank. Their designation showed their equipment type:
‘Field’ meant 25-pdr (and 18/25-pdr, 18-pdr carriage with 75-mm, 18-pdr gun and 4.5-inch howitzer early in the war and a few self-propelled (SP)105-mm later. 'Army Field Regiments’ were field regiments that were not under divisional command. 'Jungle Field Regiments' in Burma had a mix of guns and mortars.
‘Mountain’, 'Pack' and ‘Light’ meant 3.7-inch or 75-mm howitzer, or mortars in a few cases. The howitzers were usually jeep towed but some were on animal transport.
‘Airlanding’ meant 75-mm (initially 3.7-inch howitzer).
‘Medium’ meant 5.5 or 4.5-inch gun (and 6-inch howitzer and 60-pdr gun initially, with the latter re-introduced in Burma in 1944). The shortage of medium artillery in 1941-2 led UK and Australia to acquire some US built French WW1 155-mm M1917/18 howitzers.
‘Heavy’ meant 7.2-inch howitzer and 155-mm gun (and 6-inch gun, 8 and 9.2-inch howitzer early in the war), although at the beginning of the war most coast artillery units were also called 'heavy' .
‘Super Heavy’ meant 8-inch gun, 240-mm howitzer, 9.2-inch railway gun and 12-inch howitzer.

http://nigelef.tripod.com/maindoc.htm

If you've not been I recommend visiting the RA Museum at Woolwich, London.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firepower_%E2%80%93_The_Royal_Artillery_Museum

I do hope this is of some assistance. I do sympathise that your brave Grandfather is not commemorated in the Church, but that doesn't take away his achievements for which we should all be truly gratefull, I know I am.

RIP Bdr Trevor Lee.