VE Day - 80th Anniversary
In commemoration of VE day it’s time to celebrate some Highgate heroes.
1,726 Cholmeleians served during the Second World War and contributed to the Victory in Europe that took place 80 years ago.
Here are just a couple of their stories:
EDWARD PRESTON YOUNG
Edward "Teddy" Young (pupil 1926-30) was an active member of Northgate House and Sub-Editor of The Cholmeleian magazine,1929-30. He was also the man who found and drew the penguin for Penguin Books - at London Zoo - and had the rare good fortune to escape from a sunken submarine in World War II.
With the threat of war, Young joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, where his experience as a yachtsman ensured instant commission as a sub-lieutenant. He then volunteered for submarine service and, by July 1941, was on HMS Umpire. After surfacing one night, Umpire was rammed and sunk by a trawler escorting a coastal convoy; of the 37 crew, 22 were lost. As the boat hit the bottom at 24 metres, Young and three others escaped through the conning tower without breathing apparatus.
He was awarded the first of two DSCs for his part in sinking an Italian submarine off Sicily in late 1942. The following June, he became the first RNVR officer to command a submarine, taking charge of HMS Storm, which was based in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and then Fremantle. Young won his second DSC for a series of eventful patrols, before taking his submarine back to Britain in 1945.
Young immortalised his distinguished war service in One of Our Submarines, his best-selling autobiography.
FLIGHT LIEUTENANT D. T. PARROTT
An extract from The Cholmeleian magazine after his death in June 1941:
Dennis T. Parrott came up to the Senior School in 1930. Part of his school days were spent in the School House and part as a day-boy in Southgate. A keen footballer and a good runner, it was, however, on the range that he chiefly distinguished himself at school. He was a really fine shot and in 1933 he won the Michel Cup for the highest score in the Ashburton. Later, in 1935, he won the Cup and Medal for the Indoor Bisley (under 18); open to the whole of the British Isles.
He joined the Air Force in 1937. His first war service was with bombers, but he transferred to Fighters in time for the Battle of Britain in which he played a distinguished part, shooting down several of the enemy. He was one of the first to volunteer for night fighters. He was twice wounded and finally met his death in air operations.
A correspondent writing in The Times says "Loyalty, in the best sense of that much maligned term, was one of his outstanding characteristics ; he had a genuine affection for the Service he had chosen, and was always ready with a word of encouragement to newly joined members. He had a quiet, but subtle, humour and when things looked grey he could be relied upon to introduce a certain liveliness into proceedings whatever their character might be. Of innate modesty, with a genius for friendship, he was one of those of whom it may fittingly be written.
'The men he worked with
Say, judging with
In the task which tried manhood the hardest
He was tested and proved a man."
If you want to find out more or visit the archives please contact archives@highgateschool.org.uk
Written by Nicole Gross, Highgate School’s Archivist