Hero Teachers

As another Remebrance Day fades into memory elsewhere on t’internet there is a thread about hero teachers. I had two – a housemaster who was previously a Pathfinder Wing Commander, DFC and bar and a French master who was awarded a MC for having both arms blown off saving his platoon from a badly thrown grenade. Others served without recognition or reward as officers and NCOs in regiments long since forgotten and amalgamated.

And you???

OZ

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Author: O Zangado

Just loping around. Extremely fond of roast boar in particular, meat in general and cooking on the barbie. Fish is good too.

5 thoughts on “Hero Teachers”

  1. One of our most popular teachers, who was strict but fair, won a medal on D-Day. He was an inspiration to all the boys at my grammar school, even those who did not study his subject. Another inspirational teacher had served in tanks at El Alamein, and one had been on a Lancaster, as navigator. He taught geography.

  2. Feeg – I particularly remember on CCF camps where the respect shown by serving RAF officers and airmen to the Wing Commander, DFC and bar with his golden pathfinder wings above the RAF navigator brevet was almost magical.

    OZ

  3. I had a couple of hero teachers at my training ship which was also secondary school. They were ex Merchant Navy officers who’d been through the war North Atlantic, Murmansk Convoys, Far East….every thing. They taught nautical subjects, navigation, maths, met , stabilty, stuff like that. Very modest, never in uniform, no medals, guess they didn’t have any at least not not that we knew about.

    Good teachers all and no trouble keeping order, which was more than some of the ship’s officers could do.

  4. Most of my teachers in Primary School had, of course, served in one capacity or other and all wore their medals and awards on Empire Day* and, of course, whichever was the day nearest to Armistice day that we celebrated at school. It tends to focus your attention when the scruffy little maths teacher appears. polihed, pressed and starched, wearing an MC.

  5. My History/cricket master was gassed at Monte Casino and suffered from an awful cough, an excellent man. Everyone revered him, which for a crowd of 1960s teenage boys says something about him.

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