Category: Military

Information and pictures about the military in Warminster and district including The Tank Barracks, The School Of Infantry, The Land Warfare Centre, Boreham Barracks, Battlesbury Barracks, Knook Camp, Sutton Veny, Boyton and Corton, Codford, Longbridge Deverill, Salisbury Plain, etc.

Stourton War Memorial Plaques

There are two stone plaques on the exterior wall of the former Stourton Club:

Stourton Club was
“erected in memory of those who fell
in the War 1914 – 1919″

A GOOD LIFE HATH BUT A FEW DAYS

A GOOD NAME ENDURETH FOR EVER

Capt Henry Colt Arthur Hoare,
Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry

Corporal Frederick Broomfield,
Dorset Regiment

Pte Wm Thomas Chaldecott,
King’s Own Yorkshire Lt. Infantry

Pte Wm H. Greene,
Duke of Cornwall’s Lt. Infantry

Pte Wm John Green,
Royal Marine Lt. Infantry

Sapper Hubert Thomas Keevil,
Royal Engineers

Pte Thomas Joseph Keevil,
Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Pte Robert George Maidment,
South Wales Borderers

Pte Jack Pine,
Dorset Regiment

Pte Edgar Eustace Watson,
Royal Warwickshire Regiment

1914 – 1919

A second plaque reads:

GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS

THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE
FOR HIS FRIENDS

Flight Sgt Hilgrove Pridgin Teale,
Royal Air Force

Sgt Pilot Leslie Arthur Greene,
Royal Air Force

Sgt Air Gunner Bertram Charles John White,
Royal Air Force

L/Corporal Philip William Charles Hurden,
1st Wiltshire Regiment

1939 – 1945

An American Military Hospital Occupied What Is Now The Safari Park Drive-Through At Longleat

Some notes about Longleat during the Second World War, posted on the Facebook page for Longleat (8th May 2020), include:

The safari drive-through was home to an American military hospital (occupied from April 1944 – June 1945) which was built for 600 patients and staff.

Some of the hospital’s roads and buildings were repurposed as part of the safari when it opened in 1966.

Viscountess Daphne Weymouth, the wife of the future 6th Marquess of Bath, volunteered as a librarian at the hospital.

On VE Day, many of the patients and staff celebrated with residents in the nearest village on the estate (Horningsham) until the early hours of the morning!

General Eisenhower And Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder With The US 33rd Armored Division At Warminster

Saturday 26th February 1944

Photograph taken at Warminster on Saturday 26th February 1944, showing General Eisenhower and Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder watching soldiers of the US 33rd Armored Division with a Sherman tank on a miniature firing range.

General Eisenhower And Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder With The US 33rd Armored Division At Warminster

Photograph taken at Warminster on 26th February 1944, showing General Eisenhower and Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder watching soldiers of the US 33rd Armored Division with a Sherman tank on a miniature firing range.

200 Personnel At RAF Crabtree

Some notes about Longleat during the Second World War, posted on the Facebook page for Longleat (8th May 2020), include:

A large RAF storage depot, known as RAF Crabtree, was hidden in the forest. It was built in 1943 and 200 personnel were based there.

It mainly occupied the site now occupied by Center Parcs, but a few remaining buildings can be seen by the side of the road between the Center Parcs and Longleat entrances (the most prominent is a large blister hut).

The Upton Lovell And Corton Area Platoon Of The Home Guard, May 1943

The Upton Lovell and Corton area platoon of the Home Guard pictured one Sunday morning in May 1943, on the lawn at Jeans’ Farm, Corton. In the photo are:

Ben Williams, Reg Blake, Alex Trollope, Bob Ball, Billy Day, Mr Gurney, Albert Trollope, William Witt, Leslie Bourne, Mr Pottow, Jack Sharp, Bill Bailey, Sgt. Polden, Commander Jeans, David Smith, Joe Day, Arthur Powell, Frank Poolman, Henry Poulter, Sonny Grant, Bill Morgan, Tom Rugg, Reg Macklin, Fred Seviour, Mr Gage, Bill Smith, Mr Ruddick and Dennis Smith.

Deeds Of Premises In East Street, Warminster, Owned By Warminster And District Comrades Institute, 1920, 1924; And Lease Of Part Of 23 Market Place, Warminster By The Local Branch Of The British Legion, 1942

The Wiltshire And Swindon History Centre, at Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 3QN, holds the following document(s):

Deeds of premises in East Street owned by Warminster and District Comrades Institute, 1920, 1924; Lease of part of 23 Market Place, Warminster by the local branch of the British Legion, 1942. Reference 2102/13.

Ancient Guns Help The War Effort

During the last week of July 1941, Mr. F.S. Smart,
junior, the Warminster scrap metal merchant,
acquired 15 old guns from Salisbury Plain.
Among them were several Victorian
breech-loading pieces over 100 years old.
Their massive barrels weighed about 22 cwts each,
in addition to the carriages.

There were also German and Austrian guns
from the Great War.

The Austrian ones featured
some elaborate carving.

This photograph, taken at Smart’s scrap metal
yard at Station Road, Warminster,
shows two of the Austrian guns, and Mr. Smart’s
sons are cutting up German trench mortars.

Junkers 88 Shot Down

Wednesday 12th March 1941

At about 9 o’clock on the evening of Wednesday 12th March 1941, a German plane was shot down by a British night fighter in the Southern District which includes Warminster.

The German plane was a Junkers 88. The pilot was found dead. Two of the crew, who had baled out, received fatal injuries. Another member of the crew escaped but later gave himself up to a local farmer.

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