A Special Blazer Telling a very Special Story
Today (Friday 4th December) we have shared the life and sacrifice of one of our own; Old Westbournian Kenneth Organ. He was born and raised in Sheffield, attended Westbourne in the 1930’s when we were a prep school and was a conscientious, respectful, thoughtful and helpful pupil. Kenneth witnessed the bombing of his city in December 1940, including a burnt out house in Meadow Bank Road near where he and his family lived. He volunteered for the RAF (Royal Air Force) and was called up in June 1941 and posted to No. 9 Initial Training Wing at Stratford on Avon, gaining his wings. Kenneth then moved to 518 Meteorological Squadron in the Inner Hebrides. In June 1944 Kenneth and his crew were flying in poor weather and low visibility in an RAF Halifax plane at 250 mph, head on with another Halifax plane. They both did an emergency right turn but tragically caught each other’s wing and crashed to ground in flames with the loss of all 16 crew members. Kenneth was just 24 and in January 1944 had married Dora Bateman at Ecclesall Parish Church. When Kenneth died so tragically 300 miles away in the Hebrides, Dora was pregnant with their son, also named Kenneth, who was born in December 1944; a son he never knew…
Kenneth Jnr has very kindly loaned Westbourne his Father’s school blazer and cap; proudly on display for all of our school community and visitors to view. He will be our special guest, at The Headmaster’s invitation, next November at our whole school 2021 Remembrance Service.
