The WW2 Roll of Honour:
Surnames M - N

Sergeant 615966  Eric Alfred Main

Royal Air Force

Died on 3rd November 1941, Aged 21.

Commemorated Runnymede Memorial                                                                                       

Mr. and Mrs., Bert Main, 19, Tyler Avenue, Loughborough, have received official information that their eldest son, Sergeant Eric Alfred Main, a rear gunner in the R, A, F who was reported missing on November 2nd, may now be presumed dead.  He was on active service in the Middle East. 

Sergeant Main, who was 22, years of age, joined the R, A, F, as a regular when he was 18, as a mechanic.  He had been in France and was safely evacuated from there on the fall of the country.  He volunteered for flying duties.  He left Limehurst School to work at the Brush Company before joining the R, A, F.  He was a popular young man and had many friends. His father served in the Leicestershire Yeomanry for 23 years and saw service through the whole of the last war.  He finished his service with the Yeomanry as a troop sergeant.  He is now a lieutenant in the local Home Guard.

 

Major 160707  Peter Edward Mason

 

Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Died on 21st November 1943, Aged 26.

Buried Beirut War Cemetery, 7. A. 11.

 
The sad news reached Loughborough on Saturday last, in the war office telegram to his wife, that Major Peter Edward Mason, R.A.O.C, was accidentally killed on duty in the Middle East on Nov 21st Second son of Mrs. and the late Mr. N.C.E Mason, Major Mason qualified as an accountant at the early age of 21 year. And, volunteering for H.M Forces in October 1939. He was commissioned the following year. He proceeded overseas in august. 1941, gaining rapid promotion, and only as recently as last of April was promoted to the rank of staff major. Only 26 years of age last month. Major Mason was keenly interested in the sporting activities of the town, and appeared with success as an amateur actor. His untimely end has come as a terrible shock, and great sympathy is felt for his young wife. Formerly miss Kathleen Russell. Who lives on Forest Road. His eighteen months old son, whom he had never seen, and his mother and brothers.
 

Photo courtesy of Asia War Graves.com

 

Stoker 1st Class P/KX 96085 James Acquilla Kilgour Miller

 

H.M.S. Hood, Royal Navy

Died on 24th May 1941, Aged 21.

Commemorated Portsmouth Naval Memorial  

(His brother John W. Kilgour Miller also fell see below)                                                                      

                    

 
When war with Germany was declared Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and she spent the next several months hunting between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea for German commerce raiders and blockade runners. After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she sailed as the flagship of Force H, and participated in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Relieved as flagship of Force H, Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defence against a potential German invasion fleet. In May 1941, she and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck which was en route to the Atlantic where she was to attack convoys. On 24 May 1941, early in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Hood was struck by several German shells and exploded; the loss had a profound effect on the British people. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the Royal Navy to "sink the Bismarck!", and they fulfilled his command on 26-27 May.
 
 
 
 
Of the 1,418 crew, only three men, Ordinary Signalman Ted Briggs, Able Seaman Robert Tilburn and Midshipman William John Dundas, survived; they were rescued about two hours after the sinking by the destroyer Electra. Electra spotted substantial debris, but no bodies.
 

 

Petty Officer Stoker P/KX 94922 John William Kilgour Miller

 

H.M.S. Bluebell., Royal Navy

Died on 7th February 1945, Aged 24.

Commemorated Portsmouth Naval Memorial

(His brother James A. Kilgour Miller also fell see above)                                                                                                     

 
Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Miller, of "Scots Greys," Byron Street, Loughborough, have received news that their son, Petty Officer Jack Miller, aged 24, is reported missing presumed killed while on war service. They have now lost two boys in this war, both of them sailors. It is nearly four years since they were informed that their eldest son, First Class Stoker James Miller, had gone down with H.M.S. Hood. A third son, First Class Stoker Joseph Miller, aged 20, has been in the Navy for two years. All three boys were educated at the Limehurst Senior School, when Mr., J, H, W, Matthews was headmaster. Petty Officer Jack Miller had been in the Navy for six years. He was married, and his wife and 16 months old daughter live at 99, Russell Street, Loughborough. Before joining the Service he was employed at Messrs, Clemerson's, Market Place, Loughborough.

 

 

HMS Bluebell was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy during World War II. Ordered from Fleming & Ferguson at Paisley on 27 July 1939, she was launched on 24 April 1940 and commissioned in July 1940. She served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Arctic, escorting several convoys to Russia, and also took park in the invasions of Sicily and France. She was torpedoed and sunk by U-711 under the command of Hans-Günther Lange in the Kola Inlet on 7 February 1945 while escorting the convoy RA-64 from Murmansk. Only 1 member of her crew survived.

 

Private 5256351 Natie Miller

2nd Bn., 7th Bn. Worcestershire Regiment

Died on 8th February 1945, Age 29.

Buried Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar, 19. J. 20.                                                                                             

Official intimation was received from the war office that Private Natie Miller, aged 29, son of Mrs. S Miller, 12, Havelock Street, Loughborough, has been killed in action in Burma during February. Private Miller has been in the Army for five years.  His family came to Loughborough from London three years ago. Mrs. Miller has also another son serving, Private, Percy Miller, who is in India.

 

Photo courtesy of Asia War Graves.com

 

 

A. L. Mullholland
 

 

 

Sapper 5667414 Roy Clayton Alford Mullis

 

Royal Engineers

Died on 8th January 1945, Aged 39.

Buried Bodmin Cemetery, Cornwall, Sec. T. Grave 267.

 

 

 

Sapper 2088109 Stuart Murray

 

Royal Engineers, 377 Btty., 44 Leicestershire Regiment) AA Battalion.

Died on 27th May 1940, Aged 36.

Buried Spalding Cemetery, Plot J, Grave 1936.

 

 

 

Sergeant 955027  Claude Ronald Nash

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 24th April 1941, Aged 22.

Commemorated Runnymede Memorial.

Corporal 4858063  Albert Edward Neal

1st Bn., Lincolnshire Regiment

Died on 3rd February 1945, Aged 23.

Buried Taukkyan War Cemetery,  Coll. grave 10. A. 21-24.                                                                                                 

News was received that Corporal A. E. Neal, son of Corporal A. Neal and Mrs. Neal, Garendon Road, Loughborough, and husband of Mrs., Phyllis Neal, has been reported killed in Burma.  He is the only son and was 23 years of age. Prior to the war he worked in the offices of the Granite Company Mountsorrel.  He joined the Leicestershire Territorials at the age of 14 and was mobilized at the commencement of the war. He had been over seas for two and a half years, was wounded twice in Burma, and went back to duty. His Father, Corporal Neal, is still serving in the Leicestershire Regiment.  He has been in the Territorials  for 30 years and was mobilized at the commencement of the war.  He served in the Norwegian campaign and has eight medals, including the Norwegian Military Cross with sword, and has been mentioned in dispatches.  He served throughout the last war.

 

Photo courtesy of Asia War Graves.com

Corporal 7261967 Andrew Claude Needham

 

Royal Army Medical Corps

Died on 13th December 1940, Aged 29.

Buried Loughborough Cemetery, 381/8

 

Warrant Officer 659072 Frank Needham

Pilot Royal Air Force.

Died on 19th February 1945, Aged 24.

Buried Whitwick Cemetery, A. N.C. Grave 250.

Z. Needham
                                                                                                
 

Mrs. F, Needham, 8 Alfred Street, Loughborough, has received a telegram from her son, Private Zach Needham, which says, "Arrived safely in British hands. Hope to be home soon. 

Writing."

Private Needham has been prisoner of war for three years and eight months. Captured at Singapore, he was taken to Thailand. During the whole of the time his mother has only received three postcards and a brief letter. In his letter he says he had seen some Loughborough boys who were Jap prisoners and they were all well.

Before the war Zach worked at Messrs, Tucker's Brickyard.

Another son of Mrs. Needham's Fred was killed in action in North Africa two years ago.

 

 

 

Private 4859571 Stanley Newby

2nd Bn., Leicestershire Regiment

Died on 25th November 1941, Aged 21.

Buried Tobruk War Cemetery, Libya, 8. F. 3.

Private 4858410  Ronald Charles Nobes

1st Bn., Leicestershire Regiment

Died on 12th December 1941, Aged 22.

Commemorated Singapore Memorial, Column 66.

Photo courtesy of Asia War Graves.com