Some Southwark residents will be old enough to remember WWII – those years when bombs rained down on the borough. So there is certainly hope that readers might be able to tell us more about our four forgotten heroes.
The men in question are Frederick Legon, Frederick James, William Fisher and Lesley Baker, born in Bermondsey, Walworth and Blackfriars. As explained in our article this week, all four will be commemorated in a monument dedicated to the Photographic Reconnaissance Units (PRU) that flew behind enemy lines in perilous, secret reconnaissance missions.
But the campaigners behind the monument want to know more about them and hope the veterans’ friends and relatives can step forward. Here at Southwark News, we’re feeling optimistic. Black-and-white wartime photos and fuzzy radio can make the war feel distant but, in reality, the 1940s are a stone’s throw away. Who knows, maybe one of these men is still alive and living locally.
Memorialisation can be a touchy subject. When Jeremy Hunt announced the government will give £1 million towards a memorial for Muslim soldiers, numerous MPs and media figures, mainly from the right, criticised the move.
They argued that a WWII memorial on religious grounds was another example of the left’s attempt to silo people into categories based on characteristics like gender and race. While we don’t agree with this (there are already memorials to war monuments to Catholics, Hindu and Sikhs) it shows how controversial memorialisation can be.
However, we challenge anyone to seek controversy in a memorial to the PRU. These servicemen, hailing from the UK and nations across the globe – Malawi, Brazil and Jamaica among them – suffered a horrendous casualty rate of nearly 50 per cent. It’s undoubtedly time their sacrifice is recognised.
At the moment, bureaucratic stagnation appears to be preventing government from finally giving the monument the rubber stamp. Much like we’ve seen with the campaign to make the South Bank’s National Covid Memorial Wall a permanent fixture, it’s been delayed by the pandemic and domestic economic woes.
But remembering the past, and appreciating the sacrifices others made to preserve our freedom, will always be important. While Frederick James and Lesley Baker may have passed away – we know William Fisher and Frederick Legon have – their loved ones could be very much alive.
To them; a simple thank you to their parents, grandparents, uncles, and friends, would be very meaningful.