VE Day: Honouring the fallen of WWII, 75 years on
08 May 2020
Today is 75 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe, and a moment for the whole world to reflect on that conflict, remember its victims, and consider its aftermath.
Members of the University of Reading community played important part in the conflict and 73 paid the ultimate price in the fight for our freedom. Their names are listed on the memorial clock tower of our London Road campus.
Here are just some of those former students whose sacrifice we honour.
- Second Lieutenant Leonard John Anstey of the Royal Berkshire Regiment gained a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the University. He died in 1940 at the age of 21.
- Serjeant Vincent Barber, a member of the Intelligence Corps stationed at Bletchley Park, the top-secret home of the codebreaking operation that cracked the German Enigma Code, died on 8 July 1941, aged 26, in a bombing raid.
- Serjeant Theodore Cyril Birkett, of the 6th Royal Tank Regiment, gained his undergraduate degree from Reading. He died on 24 November 1944, aged 30.
- Second Lieutenant Arthur Cyril Fletcher gained his B.Sc from Reading. He died on 30 May 1940, aged 23.
- Herbert Barringer Gould B.Sc of the Home Guard, was killed in an air raid in Hanwell on 23 June 1944, aged 21.
- Schoolmaster Warrant Officer Frank Herbert Lowndes B.Sc of HMS Charybdis, died on 23 October 1943, aged 32.
- Pilot Officer James Gilbert Lyon gained his undergraduate degree from Reading. He died on 2 April 1943, aged 30.
- Captain Sidney Charles Maskell-Dicker gained his B.Sc in Education from Reading. He died on 23 July 1944, aged 34.
- Flight Sergeant Colin Robert Morley gained his B.Sc from Reading. He died in an aircraft crash in Northern Ireland on 1 February 1942, aged 23.
- Pilot Officer Walton Ralph Pring gained his B.Sc from Reading. He died on 23 September 1944, aged 26.