Remembering the 83rd anniversary of the sinking of battlecruiser HMS Hood
On May 26, the Bellingham Ex-Servicemen’s Club held a memorial service to commemorate the 83rd anniversary of the sinking of battlecruiser HMS Hood.
The Memorial was attended by Mayor of Bromley David Jefferys, Mayoress of Bromley Ann-Marie Jefferys, councillor Jacqueline Paschoud from Bellingham ward and councillor John Paschoud from Perry Hill ward.
Also in attendance were representatives from the Greenwich Naval and Sea Cadets College, Merchant Navy and Inner London Association and the Nelson Mackie Band.
The club’s ex-servicemen members, families and ex-servicemen from the South East also came to pay their respects.
The day commenced at 12.30pm with a marching band along Allerford Road, with Navy Personnel, Veteran soldiers, Navy Cadets and eight standard bearers following behind.
Inside the club the service was conducted by Father David Riley of St Dunstans Church, Bellingham, and Father Peter Organ of St John’s Church, Catford.
In the Navy corner of the memorial garden, a Roll of Honours memorial for the 1,418 soldiers who perished on the battlecruiser HMS Hood was unveiled.
On May 24, 1941, Britain’s largest battleship, known as the Mighty Hood, was hit by a torpedo shot from the German Battleship Bismarck.
The ship went down within minutes, with only three crewmen surviving the tragedy.
Ten men from Kentwell Close were among the 1,418 who lost their lives.
In 2006, Tony Green, former vice chairman of the Honor Oak and Brockley branch of the Royal British Legion, discovered a framed letter while tidying up the Legion’s clubhouse in Eddystone Road.
The document – signed by R. Rayment – tells the story of what happened when a postman, Jack Heart, delivered letters to Kentwell Close on the Honor Oak Estate, shortly after HMS Hood was sunk during the Second World War.
The letter describes how mothers on the estate were in “extreme distress” when their post started to arrive from the War Office, bearing the news that their young sons had died.
Following the discovery, Mr Green set up the Battlecruiser HMS HOOD South East London Memorial Group, based at the Bellingham Ex-servicemens Club, to renovate the memorial.
The new memorial sits within the refurbished gardens, which are open to the public.
A memorial plaque to the British Nurse Edith Cavell was also unveiled at the event.
Ms Cavell saved the lives of soldiers from all sides without distinction during the First World War. She also actively helped soldiers escape from German soldiers who were looking to capture and imprison them. She was arrested for this, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.
She was shot by the Germans in 1915. She famously said the day before her execution: ʺPatriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.ʺ
Ms Cavell is still remembered today for her courage and compassion.
Late in the afternoon Mr Green, now Chairman of the Hood Committee, gave his thanks to everyone involved for all their hard work in organising the memorial, especially thanking the Hood Committee and the Club Committee.
Pictured top: The procession marching along Allerford Road (Picture: Sue Ireland)