Life Lines: Naomi Warren Art Project Part of our commemorations of the 80th anniversary on 15 April 2025, Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum are inviting artists to participate in a three-part series of artist workshops to engage with the story of Jewish survivor Naomi Warren and the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, and create artwork in response to four themes: witnessing, kindness, vision and positivity. Artists will be encouraged to create artwork and/or…
Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum signs the Armed Forces Covenant On Wednesday, 29 January 2025, the museum signed the Armed Forces Covenant in front of gathered members of the Armed Forces community and representatives. Trustee Mike Montagu, who served in The Light Infantry and then The Rifles, signed on behalf of the museum, alongside Lt. Col. Ged Hennigan RLC, Bicester Garrison Commander. The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum recognises the contribution…
In this guest blog from Abingdon historian Steve King, he tells the story of four of the town’s D-Day heroes – at least one of whom will be instantly familiar to regular visitors and readers of the blog! Abingdon’s D-Day Four Steve King 3 June 1944 (D -2) The greatest invasion force the world had ever seen has assembled along the south coast of England, from Cornwall to…
Johnny Granville joined the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in August 1936, when the Battalion was in India. He quickly made his mark as an instructor and as a polo player in the regimental team, as well as a fine shot. Posted home early in 1940 he was appointed Adjutant of 7th. Battalion of the Regiment as it was formed in Aldershot. As the Battalion expanded…
Oxfordshire & D-Day What were the Oxfordshire regiments roles on D-Day? The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry committed three battalions to the Normandy campaign in 1944, with two landing on the 6th June 1944 – one by air, one by sea. 2nd Battalion (52nd), Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division Part of 6th Airborne Division, 2nd Battalion were some of the first Allied troops to…
Armed Forces Day Garden Party Saturday 22 June 2024 12pm – 8.30pm Join us to mark Armed Forces Day and celebrate 10 years of Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum! On Saturday 22 June we’ll be holding a Garden Party in the beautiful gardens of The Oxfordshire Museum, just outside our front door! Our museum galleries, including our recently updated permanent galleries and our trio of brand new temporary exhibitions, Oxfordshire to…
Our thanks to RAF Benson for providing this article and photographs. Women of the WAAF: Joan Woodruff (née Heraghty) Joan Heraghty was born on 4 November 1923 and originally came from Goldthorpe, a few miles away from Doncaster in South Yorkshire. At eighteen years of age she decided to join the Woman’s Auxiliary Air Force. After her days of learning to march and learning about the Royal Air Force (square…
Women of the Air Transport Auxiliary – Freydis Mary Sharland Thanks to RAF Benson for providing us with this article Between 1939 and 1945, more than 1,300 ATA pilots delivered warplanes between factories, facilities and bases across Britain, and, later, into mainland Europe and the Mediterranean. In January 1940, the ATA’s first eight female pilots were recruited, and, based at what had been the De Havilland airfield at Hatfield in…
Naomi & Arthur: Letters from Liberation A new permanent exhibition opens on 27th January 2024 at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, tells a story of how a small act of kindness can have a life-changing impact. It will focus on two people from different worlds – Arthur Tyler, a soldier with the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, and Naomi Kaplan, a Polish Jew who survived both Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. When the…
New Oxfordshire Gallantry Board to commemorate the county’s military and civilian heroes On 22 October 2023 we open a brand new permanent display to celebrate some of the county’s most remarkable heroes – the 31 men who have been awarded the Victoria Cross, the George Cross, or the Edward and Albert medals that preceded its institution. We always aim to excite the curiosity of visitors through the diverse…
