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TODAY, is the 11th of the 11th, and I felt it was fitting to share this little known story of one man's war and why his old school in England will forever keep his memory alive.
FLYING missions over occupied Europe is brave in itself. But, this young 23-year-old English flyer, after hiding from the Germans for several months in occupied Holland, was faced with a very difficult decision. Stay quiet and let a family be shot, or give myself up?[huh]
Without realising it at the time, he made a decision that would be the end of him.
Here is the extract from his Old School, who, through research by a former pupil, revealed the long buried story of Flying Officer Gerald Hood (Mentioned In Dispatches), 100 Sqn, RAFVR.
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War Hero Honoured with Three Flypasts
Flying Officer Gerald Hood MiD RAFVR of 100 Squadron was murdered by the Gestapo in March 1945. The full dramatic story of his death after hiding in Holland for seven months has only just come to light in Britain, thanks to new research by former pupils of his school and disclosures by Alan J. Barrow in “The Hornet”.
In May and June this year, the courage of Hood was commemorated at Royal Russell School in Croydon at a reunion of old scholars. The Colours of 100 Squadron were placed in the school chapel at a service of remembrance attended by O.C. Wg. Cdr. D.A.C.Legg MBE MA RAF, Richard Ottaway MP, the Mayor of Croydon as well as a delegation from the Netherlands, a 30-strong choir and 130 former pupils and guests.
Navigator Hood, age 23, was shot in a small wood near Almelo in March 1945. He had survived the crash of his Avro Lancaster Mk.III LM658 on 13th August 1944 and was rescued by the Resistance who delivered him to a ‘safe house’ in Nijverdal. Over half a year elapsed. In the following March and just two weeks before Liberation the local SD and SS police raided the house, searching for the student son of the owner who had refused to sign allegiance papers to the Nazis or to join their labour programmes. After two hours of searching, both the student and Hood who had been effectively concealed in the attic, finally surrendered, fearing for the safety of the mother and daughter trapped downstairs in the house. They were then made to cycle under guard the14km to prison.
During six days of Gestapo interrogation, Flying Officer Hood continued to withhold the names of the Resistance workers and other Dutch people who had sheltered and helped him over seven months. Finally he was taken from the jail, believing he would be joining other downed airmen and colleagues at Stalagluft One in Barthe, Northern Germany. Instead the DKW car was driven just 3km to a small wood in Zenderen. They told him to walk forward and they shot from behind in the lower neck with a 9mm barrel pistol at one metre range. They roughly buried him, but not before stealing his navigator’s watch.
Advancing Canadian troops with the help of the underground later captured and identified the assassins, one still wearing Hood’s navigator’s watch. They were sentenced at a British Military Court to be executed, their appeal for clemency being denied by Commander in Chief Field Marshal Montgomery. On the day the world’s media focused on the executions at Hamelin of the eleven Belsen Camp accused, Albert Pierrepoint the executioner recorded “Afterwards there were two more Germans to be hanged. They had murdered a Royal Air Force officer and also a young citizen of an Allied nation.”
In the Zenderen wood, a bronze statue of Flying Officer Hood is annually the scene of Remembrance every Fourth of May. This year Royal Russell School’s Air Force and Army Cadets provided a Guard of Honour there as 200 townsfolk laid wreaths and flowers in tribute, the local band played Elgar and a bugle sounded The Last Post. From the killing spot itself the School were presented on 19th May with a young oak tree. This was brought to the ceremony and dedicated to Gerald Hood’s memory in front of a Netherlands group from the Zenderen Liberation committee.
(The Lancaster Bomber flypast and the memorial in Holland to Gerald Hood, RAF).
Piloted by Sqn Ldr Rich Walker with Fg Off Chris Whitehair in the back seat, a flypast by a Hawk from 100 Squadron completed the ceremony as tributes were paid by Wg. Cdr. Legg and a wreath laid on behalf of the 100 Squadron Association by Greg Harrison and Alan J. Barrow.
Gerald Hood, along with most of his contemporaries at this school in the pre-war years, had been an orphan. In the absence of any known relatives or next-of-kin, the medals due posthumously to Gerald Hood were presented to the Old Russellians. They in turn asked Wing Commander Legg to pass them to the School for safekeeping and they were received by the Headmaster, Dr. John Jennings.
On Saturday 2nd June Avro Lancaster PA474 during its Biggin Hill BBMF debut – and carrying the “HW” codes of 100 Squadron – provided a flypast over the new oak tree memorial to Fg. Off. Hood at Royal Russell School and again on the next day, Sunday 3rd June.
Royal Russell School and the Old Russellians have thanked the Commanding Officer and his team for their “wonderful encouragement and cooperation”. It is hoped that the liaison between squadron and school, now with 850 pupils, will continue to develop, not least among the Combined Cadet Force which is led by Squadron Leader Colin Leggatt
THE TRIAL (CLICK HERE)
F/O Gerald Hood's flying suit. Thanks to HJohnson. (see pics below).
FLYING missions over occupied Europe is brave in itself. But, this young 23-year-old English flyer, after hiding from the Germans for several months in occupied Holland, was faced with a very difficult decision. Stay quiet and let a family be shot, or give myself up?[huh]
Without realising it at the time, he made a decision that would be the end of him.
Here is the extract from his Old School, who, through research by a former pupil, revealed the long buried story of Flying Officer Gerald Hood (Mentioned In Dispatches), 100 Sqn, RAFVR.
-----------------------------------------------------------
War Hero Honoured with Three Flypasts
Flying Officer Gerald Hood MiD RAFVR of 100 Squadron was murdered by the Gestapo in March 1945. The full dramatic story of his death after hiding in Holland for seven months has only just come to light in Britain, thanks to new research by former pupils of his school and disclosures by Alan J. Barrow in “The Hornet”.
In May and June this year, the courage of Hood was commemorated at Royal Russell School in Croydon at a reunion of old scholars. The Colours of 100 Squadron were placed in the school chapel at a service of remembrance attended by O.C. Wg. Cdr. D.A.C.Legg MBE MA RAF, Richard Ottaway MP, the Mayor of Croydon as well as a delegation from the Netherlands, a 30-strong choir and 130 former pupils and guests.
Navigator Hood, age 23, was shot in a small wood near Almelo in March 1945. He had survived the crash of his Avro Lancaster Mk.III LM658 on 13th August 1944 and was rescued by the Resistance who delivered him to a ‘safe house’ in Nijverdal. Over half a year elapsed. In the following March and just two weeks before Liberation the local SD and SS police raided the house, searching for the student son of the owner who had refused to sign allegiance papers to the Nazis or to join their labour programmes. After two hours of searching, both the student and Hood who had been effectively concealed in the attic, finally surrendered, fearing for the safety of the mother and daughter trapped downstairs in the house. They were then made to cycle under guard the14km to prison.
During six days of Gestapo interrogation, Flying Officer Hood continued to withhold the names of the Resistance workers and other Dutch people who had sheltered and helped him over seven months. Finally he was taken from the jail, believing he would be joining other downed airmen and colleagues at Stalagluft One in Barthe, Northern Germany. Instead the DKW car was driven just 3km to a small wood in Zenderen. They told him to walk forward and they shot from behind in the lower neck with a 9mm barrel pistol at one metre range. They roughly buried him, but not before stealing his navigator’s watch.
Advancing Canadian troops with the help of the underground later captured and identified the assassins, one still wearing Hood’s navigator’s watch. They were sentenced at a British Military Court to be executed, their appeal for clemency being denied by Commander in Chief Field Marshal Montgomery. On the day the world’s media focused on the executions at Hamelin of the eleven Belsen Camp accused, Albert Pierrepoint the executioner recorded “Afterwards there were two more Germans to be hanged. They had murdered a Royal Air Force officer and also a young citizen of an Allied nation.”
In the Zenderen wood, a bronze statue of Flying Officer Hood is annually the scene of Remembrance every Fourth of May. This year Royal Russell School’s Air Force and Army Cadets provided a Guard of Honour there as 200 townsfolk laid wreaths and flowers in tribute, the local band played Elgar and a bugle sounded The Last Post. From the killing spot itself the School were presented on 19th May with a young oak tree. This was brought to the ceremony and dedicated to Gerald Hood’s memory in front of a Netherlands group from the Zenderen Liberation committee.
(The Lancaster Bomber flypast and the memorial in Holland to Gerald Hood, RAF).
Piloted by Sqn Ldr Rich Walker with Fg Off Chris Whitehair in the back seat, a flypast by a Hawk from 100 Squadron completed the ceremony as tributes were paid by Wg. Cdr. Legg and a wreath laid on behalf of the 100 Squadron Association by Greg Harrison and Alan J. Barrow.
Gerald Hood, along with most of his contemporaries at this school in the pre-war years, had been an orphan. In the absence of any known relatives or next-of-kin, the medals due posthumously to Gerald Hood were presented to the Old Russellians. They in turn asked Wing Commander Legg to pass them to the School for safekeeping and they were received by the Headmaster, Dr. John Jennings.
On Saturday 2nd June Avro Lancaster PA474 during its Biggin Hill BBMF debut – and carrying the “HW” codes of 100 Squadron – provided a flypast over the new oak tree memorial to Fg. Off. Hood at Royal Russell School and again on the next day, Sunday 3rd June.
Royal Russell School and the Old Russellians have thanked the Commanding Officer and his team for their “wonderful encouragement and cooperation”. It is hoped that the liaison between squadron and school, now with 850 pupils, will continue to develop, not least among the Combined Cadet Force which is led by Squadron Leader Colin Leggatt
THE TRIAL (CLICK HERE)
F/O Gerald Hood's flying suit. Thanks to HJohnson. (see pics below).
