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…
The First Fatality of D-Day? While Lt. Den Brotheridge, taking part in the capture of Pegasus Bridge, is considered to be the first allied soldier killed in action, L/Cpl Fred Greenhalgh (3449663) was possibly the first fatal casualty of D-Day on 6th June 1944. Who was he and how did it happen? Fred was born in 1915 in Chorlton, Lancs, the son of Sam & Lily Greenhalgh. The Greenhalgh’s…
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…
The Attack on Monte Camino 1943 (80th Anniversary) Of course 11 November 2013 marks 105 years since the signing of the Armistice in 1918, but it also marks 80 years since 7th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry were engaged in the Attack on Monte Camino during the often-overlooked Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The following entries from the Regimental War Chronicle record the events leading up to…
The Men Behind the Medals: The Real Charles Bourne – Part 2 With our new exhibition, Into Battle: The Art of British War Comics, opening recently this special installment of the Men Behind the Medals blog continues the story of a real Private Charles Bourne, serving with 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry during the First World War. If you’ve not read Part 1, you can find it here. One…
The Men Behind the Medals: The Real Charles Bourne – Part 1 With our new exhibition, Into Battle: The Art of British War Comics, opening recently this special installment of the Men Behind the Medals blog looks at the service of Private Charles Bourne. One of the comics which features heavily in the new exhibition is Charley’s War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun. Originally published in Battle Picture Weekly…
The Man Behind the Medals In this blog series, SOFO Museum’s Research volunteers look at the stories behind some of the medal sets in the museum’s collection, from those that can be seen on a visit in our dedicated Medals display, to some of those that are still tucked away in the archive. While medals will tell you a little bit about a soldier’s service, it’s only with further research…
Their Finest Hour Second World War Digital Collections Day at Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum Join us at SOFO Museum to share your Second World War stories, photos and items on the 1st April 2023 – we’ll record your stories and photograph your objects to add to the Their Finest Hour online archive. The museum will open to visitors free of charge throughout the day and will be hosting a range of…
A Brief History of Cowley Barracks Cowley Barracks was the spiritual home of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and its antecedent regiments from 1876. Under the Localisation Scheme introduced in 1873, the British Isles were divided into sixty-six Sub- districts. For recruiting and recruit training purposes, two regular infantry battalions were allocated to each Sub-district, where a ‘brigade depot’ was established to house their depot companies. Previously, the depot…
The Man Behind the Medals In this blog series, SOFO Museum’s Research volunteers look at the stories behind some of the medal sets in the museum’s collection, from those that can be seen on a visit in our dedicated Medals display to some of those that are still tucked away in the archive. While medals will tell you a little bit about a soldier’s service, it’s only with further research that their…
