Among the 103 Commonwealth War Graves in Radnor Street Cemetery is that of Kenneth W. Scott Browne who died on April 4, 1944 aged 23.
Scott-Browne was a member of the King's Own Scottish Borderers 7th Battalion. In November 1943 the 7th Battalion was converted into an Airborne Battalion and began training for the planned Normandy landings. During an exercise code named DREME a Stirling towing a Horsa glider carrying No 3 Platoon hit a tree and crashed. Scott-Browne was one of 34 military personnel killed that day in April 1944. His death was registered in Droxford, Hampshire and his body returned to his home at 85 Medgbury Road, Swindon for burial in Radnor Street Cemetery.
As we prepare to commemorate the end of the Second World War in these strange, restrictive Covid-19 conditions, it is perhaps time to remember those who didn't come home 75 years ago.
VE Day was a time for rejoicing but not for everyone. While the war in Europe had ended the one in Japan would continue for another three months. And what about the families who would never meet again their loved ones.
The Kenneth Scott-Browne's wartime marriage to Elsie Herbert was a short one. The wedding took place in Swindon in the spring of 1941 and just four years later Elsie was a widow with a toddler, a son named Kenneth Frederick after his two grandfathers. By May 8, 1945 Elsie had remarried. She was still only 25 and had a three year old son to support when she married Leslie Jack Burnett. In 1954 she married for a third time.
Elsie outlived both her sons and died at the Kingsmead Nursing Home in Prospect Place, Swindon in May 2005, aged 84. She was buried in plot C4251 with her young, first husband Kenneth.
When Kenneth was buried on April 11, 1944 he joined Elsie's grandfather Frederick James Herbert who had died in 1928. In October 1941 Elsie's great grandmother, 91 year old Sarah Butcher was buried in plot C4251. Then in 1951 Elsie's grandmother Lucy Elizabeth Herbert was buried in the same grave and in 1967 the ashes of Leslie Jack Burnett, Elsie's son by her second husband, who died aged 21 were interred; four generations of one family. Ernest Arthur Hancock, Elsie's third husband, was buried in the family plot in 1994.
Commentators say this Covid crisis will change the way we live, not only now but for the coming years. Some say the country and the economy will take thirty, forty years to recover. Perhaps we find ourselves in a similar situation to families for whom the repercussions of the war continued long after the VE Day celebrations ended.
Radnor Street Cemetery volunteer Andy Binks has created a memorial to commemorate VE Day 75. Photographs courtesy of Andy Binks.
Scott-Browne was a member of the King's Own Scottish Borderers 7th Battalion. In November 1943 the 7th Battalion was converted into an Airborne Battalion and began training for the planned Normandy landings. During an exercise code named DREME a Stirling towing a Horsa glider carrying No 3 Platoon hit a tree and crashed. Scott-Browne was one of 34 military personnel killed that day in April 1944. His death was registered in Droxford, Hampshire and his body returned to his home at 85 Medgbury Road, Swindon for burial in Radnor Street Cemetery.
As we prepare to commemorate the end of the Second World War in these strange, restrictive Covid-19 conditions, it is perhaps time to remember those who didn't come home 75 years ago.
VE Day was a time for rejoicing but not for everyone. While the war in Europe had ended the one in Japan would continue for another three months. And what about the families who would never meet again their loved ones.
The Kenneth Scott-Browne's wartime marriage to Elsie Herbert was a short one. The wedding took place in Swindon in the spring of 1941 and just four years later Elsie was a widow with a toddler, a son named Kenneth Frederick after his two grandfathers. By May 8, 1945 Elsie had remarried. She was still only 25 and had a three year old son to support when she married Leslie Jack Burnett. In 1954 she married for a third time.
Elsie outlived both her sons and died at the Kingsmead Nursing Home in Prospect Place, Swindon in May 2005, aged 84. She was buried in plot C4251 with her young, first husband Kenneth.
When Kenneth was buried on April 11, 1944 he joined Elsie's grandfather Frederick James Herbert who had died in 1928. In October 1941 Elsie's great grandmother, 91 year old Sarah Butcher was buried in plot C4251. Then in 1951 Elsie's grandmother Lucy Elizabeth Herbert was buried in the same grave and in 1967 the ashes of Leslie Jack Burnett, Elsie's son by her second husband, who died aged 21 were interred; four generations of one family. Ernest Arthur Hancock, Elsie's third husband, was buried in the family plot in 1994.
Commentators say this Covid crisis will change the way we live, not only now but for the coming years. Some say the country and the economy will take thirty, forty years to recover. Perhaps we find ourselves in a similar situation to families for whom the repercussions of the war continued long after the VE Day celebrations ended.
Radnor Street Cemetery volunteer Andy Binks has created a memorial to commemorate VE Day 75. Photographs courtesy of Andy Binks.
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