Colwall in World War 2

The Society has published two books about the Second World War. They cost £5 and can be bought from the society or Colwall Post Office. "Away from Home" will be published in November 2025.

The first book looks at life in Colwall during the War and has chapters on the Home Guard, Emergency Measures in case of Invasion, Evacuees, Shops, Businesses, Schools and much more.

The second book brings together the accounts of the men and women from Colwall who served in the Forces as reported in the Malvern Gazette and Ledbury Reporter. There are stories of bravery, hardship, loss and optimism. The accounts vary from records of heroism in the air to surviving sinking ships. On a personal level, there is mention of a longing for white sheets and views from the Hills. There are also more poignant descriptions of missing soldiers, escaping from a Death March and working on the Burma railroad.

The Home Front

... WORK IN PROGRESS ....
Links to more in depth articles will be added over the next year.

• The Home Guard and Military Defences in Colwall
• Civil Defences including the Emergency Measures if Colwall was invaded
• The Night the bombs dropped
• Old Colwall Naval Armaments Store in the old tunnel

• 1939 Register
• Businesses which relocated to Colwall: Dowsett-McKay, Kia-Ora
• Schools which relocated to Colwall: St Nicholas, Holmwood, St Georges
• Evacuees
• Daily Life including shopping, recreation and sport
• Farming and Allotments
• National Savings Weeks
• Celebrations on V.E. Day

Away from Home

226 men and women were living in Colwall or Coddington Parish at the time of their enlistment. This included men and women who served in the Fighting Forces, the Merchant Navy, Nursing Sisters under military control, and the Bevin Boys working in the coal mines.

Here are some of the stories and memories of men associated with Colwall to serve in the Forces:
Lieutenant Colonel J. Scott-Bowden survived one of Britian's worse maritime disasters, but 16 year old Mess Room Boy William Morris was not so fortunate.
Sapper Donald Wilce was captured in Normandy in 1940 and spent five years in a Polish POW camp, finally escaping the advancing Russians in one of the Death Marches. Lieutenant Tom Marsh landed in France by parachute on D-day. Gunner Ewart Ballard was captured in the Fall of Saigon and spent time building the notorious Burma Railway. Meanwhile Lieutenant Colonel E.J. Brown spent a lot of the war involved in camouflage and deception.
In the air, Leading Aircraftsman Jack Wharton was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for his bravery as a Gunner on a Sunderland Flying boat off the Norwegian Coast. Flight Sergeant Jimmy Bonner also flew in a Sunderland Flying boat but his was lost in a storm near Sri Lanka.

The Colwall War Memorial page contains information on the fourteen of the men who died whilst serving in the Second World War and are remembered on the Colwall memorials.

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