Roll of Honour

Edward Charles Merrick (Charlie), Leading Aircraftsman with the Royal Air Force, 84 Squadron. Son of Thomas William Merrick and Annie (née Jones) Merrick, who lived at No. 18 Longnor (in Back Lane). In 1942 Charles’ Squadron was transferred to the Far East, carrying out raids on Japanese forces in Sumatra, Batavia and Java. Japanese forces overran the Squadron in Java on 20^th March 1942 and all but a very few were taken prisoner. Charlie was held in a Java ‘Y’ Camp, a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp on Ambon Island in Indonesia. He died at sea on 8^th November 1944 aged 22, probably while he was being transported to another POW camp on the island of Java.  His name is on the  Singapore Memorial in the Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore,  which bears the names of over 24,000 casualties of the Commonwealth land and air forces who have no known grave.

Lance-Sergeant Cyril J Overton Davies Grenadier Guards. He was born in 1917, son of John Harold Overton-Davies (born in 1894 at Netley Hall) and Lucy Mary Overton-Davies (née Taylor), who was from Smethcott. Cyril’s father died from Spanish Flu in 1918, and his mother, Lucy, married Charlie Haycock in 1920. The family moved to Longnor from Leebotwood in 1933. Cyril married Doris Eileen Hill in October 1939. She was from Woking in Surrey, where she worked as the manageress of a restaurant run by her parents. Cyril was killed on 18th July 1944 in France, aged 27. Doris continued to live in Surrey. She didn’t remarry.

Lieutenant Thomas Naismith Salter, 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders. Son of James and Isabella Salter, who were married on 11th August 1919. James was from Liverpool, born in 1885. His mother was Isabella Miller Jeffrey, from the Gorbals in Glasgow, born in 1892. She died in 1989. They married on 11th August 1919 in Glasgow and at the time of Thomas’ birth in 1922, they were living in Derby. They had no other children. Thomas was mentioned in Despatches. He was killed on 9^th February 1945 during the Allied invasion of Germany, aged 21.  He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Herbert Arthur Haycock (Cyril Overton-Davies’ half-brother) deserves a mention. He was born in 1927 and was too young to fight in the war. His mother, Lucy Haycock, and his sister Marj Holtham, ran the village shop. After leaving school he did a stint on the railways before joining the Royal Engineers, and was sent out to rebuild railways in Egypt. A local resistance force made life dangerous for the railway men. Arther died in 1952. after several difficult years in Egypt.

Cyril Overton-Davies

Died 18 July 1944 Aged 27 Years

Cyril was the eldest son of Lucy Haycock. She and her second husband, Charles, came to Longnor in 1935 and later ran the village shop and post office. Six of their seven children were in military service during and just after the Second World War.

Lucy and Marj wrote to each other in July 1944:

Edward Charles Merrick

Died 8 Nov 1944 Aged 22 Years

Charlie was the son of Annie and Bill Merrick. He went off to war from Longnor, joining the RAF Volunteer Reserve 84 Squadron as an aircraftsman.

Charlie and his RAF squadron were captured by the Japanese in March 1942 and were held with thousands of other Prisoners of War on islands off Indonesia in horrific conditions. They did hard physical labour, including building airstrips, despite dysentery and malnutrition, and were moved from island to island on Japanese cargo ships.

A Dutch doctor, held with British RAF men, later wrote:

The prisoners were allowed to send a postcard home. They were given a limited number of sentences to choose from. Charlie wrote home to his Mum choosing sentences 3, 10 and 14: