Hello all,
I was working over in the Orpington area today and thought I’d pop into the cemetry at Star Lane to pay my respects. Many of the RAF and civilian personnel killed when Biggin Hill was bombed on the 30th August are buried here.
I wondered whilst looking at the graves, if any photographs were taken at the funeral services. I’m sure that the local press would have covered the incident as so many were killed.
Does anyone know if such pictures exist, and if so where could I see them.
Gerry
By: Lyffe - 21st October 2008 at 22:48
Gerry,
Just to note there were also civilians who died during the raid. One was Norman Arthur Roberts, who was in charge of the met office and on observing duty. He had just completed the 1700 GMT observation (Calm, no cloud, visibility 12miles) when the bombers struck. He was unfortunate in that he was in the air-raid shelter that was hit by one of the bombs.
Although he had served in the RAF for 12 years before joining the Met Office he was not offered the same recognition as the other fatalities, although his family laid him to rest in the Star Lane cemetery. His grave is almost lost at the at the other end of the cemetery from the CWGC section, the bit that is vandalised and uncared for. There is no headstone and it took me ages to find it.
Brian
By: *Zwitter* - 21st October 2008 at 21:34
There’s a picture in either ‘Biggin on the bump’ or ‘ The ghosts of Biggin Hill’ (I get them both mixed up) of one of the funeral processions resulting from one of the raids in August 1940
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October 21, 2008 at 3:08 pm