Thread: Royal Army Chaplains Dept Casualties

Originally Posted by Jerome

Not Army Chaplains but RAF:-
Son of Harry Walter and Jean Pugh; husband of Amy Lilian Pugh, of Bridgnorth, Shropshire. M.A. (Oxon.).
The London Gazette of 1st April, 1947, gives the following particulars: The Revd. H. C. Pugh was on board H. M. T. Anslem, bound for West Africa, when the ship was torpedoed in the Atlantic in the early hours of 5th July, 1941. Coming up on deck he seemed to be everywhere at once, doing his best to comfort the injured, helping with the boats, rafts, and visiting different lower sections where men were quartered, When he learned that a number of injured airmen were trapped in the hold which had been damaged by the torpedo, which distroyed the normal means of escape, he insisted on being lowered in by a rope. Everyone demurred, as the hold was below the water-line, the decks were already awash, and to go down was to go to certain death. He simply explained that he must be where his men were. The hold now was so full of water that when he knelt to pray, the water reached his shoulders. Within a few minutes the ship plunged and sank and Mr. Pugh was never seen again. He had every opportunity of saving his own life but, without regard for his own safety and in the best tradition of the Service and of a Christian minister, he gave up his life for others.
Awarded GC Posthumously

A brave man indeed !

More than one or two seemed to do that Jerome .... some of the stories make you weep !

Thanks for that one

Annie

Just returned from Holland and found this Reverend whilst looking for Camerons in Mierlo cemetery, Had a quick search to see what he did re saving Dutch children without much success.

You could download the recommendation for his MC to see whether that has any more info:

The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details

In Memory of
Chaplain 4th Class The Rev. HENRY JEFFERYS LEIGH TAYLOR
M C

188501, Royal Army Chaplains' Department
attd. 29th Armd. Bde., 11th Armd. Div.
who died age 31
on 23 September 1944
Son of Russell Leigh Taylor and May Taylor, of Clifton-on-Teme, Worcestershire. B.A. (Oxon): University College.

Remembered with honour
MIERLO WAR CEMETERY

Weep indeed Annie!

I've not read a lot about chaplains before (is that a generic term which applies to all of the services?), especially given that they were unarmed is there a higher ratio of bravery awards than to other servicemen?

The Revd Selwyn Thorne is a very special person to us as he came to stay for about 2 weeks each year for over 40 years and my late father was such a close friend of his. I saw him last week. He is now 96 and in the Nursing home just over the road from his Abbey.
He does speak a little of Arnhem now. He left the training Battalion of the Guards at Windsor when asked to join the Airborne. He landed at Arnhem in a glider full of artillery. He has never mentioned being wounded. He was tending to the wounded in the house of the Angel of Arnhem, Kate ter Horst, and felt that she did not approve of him for some reason, especially when she found him cleaning the toilets - obviously not a suitable job for a Padre! Later he heard that she did approve after all. He has also recounted how a tank shell passed right through the house. And having to cope with severed limbs and matching them up with fatalities for burial - making a joke of it in order to cope with the gore and horror.
Padres had the rank of Captain and as such he was the equal-highest rank in the POW camp and found himself taking parades - not something that comes naturally to such a modest man-of-the-cloth. I think he said that the POW camp was within sight of Belsen, but they were unaware of the horrors there.