William Charles Donald ‘Don’ Gallop
Don moved into Shoreham as a young boy in the early 1920s with his parents and two sisters, Laura and Joan. His father, Charlie, was the baker at the Shoreham Bakery (now the Aircraft Museum). When WW2 started, Don was working at Vickers as a Tool Maker and was therefore in a reserved occupation. However, when the Vickers factory was bombed and out of action for a while, he requested permission to join the RAF. He joined the RAF in 1941 where he trained as a front gunner and radio operator before being sent on active duty to RAF Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire. In May 1941 he married Gladys who had moved into Shoreham village to work for Lady Gregory as a nursery maid. |
On 12th February 1942, Sgt Gallop took off from RAF Elsham Wolds on board Wellington bomber Z8714. The aircraft, piloted by Squadron Leader Ian Cross, was part of 103 Squadron who were detailed to attack the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which had broken out of their rather perilous harbour at Brest to seek safe refuge at their German bases. The Wellington was brought down, probably by flak, and ditched in the North Sea about 40 miles off Rotterdam. Two of the crew were lost, the remaining four managed to scramble into their dinghy. They were picked up the following afternoon by a German patrol boat and taken as POWs and sent to various interrogation centres and POW camps. |
In 1943 Gladys received a letter and badge advising her that Don had been awarded membership of the Goldfish Club (the club set up for Airmen who had ditched in the sea and survived).
Don’s pilot, Sq/L Cross was a “troublesome” prisoner and a serial escaper, and was eventually sent to Stalag Luft III, the reputedly escape-proof camp depicted in the film ‘The Great Escape’. He was the man who tried hiding in the back of the truck under the pine branches and he was the man in charge of the operation to disperse the soil from the tunnels. He was also one of the 76 men who escaped (March 25th 1944), and one of the 50 who were subsequently murdered by the Gestapo.
The first four months of 1945 saw tens of thousands of Allied POWs, many weak and severely malnourished from several years in captivity, being forced by the Germans to march away from the fast approaching Soviet Army and potential liberation. All in extreme wintry conditions with very little food and precious little weather protection. Trench foot, dysentery, gangrene and typhus were all rife but if they couldn’t keep up the pace they risked being shot.
On 19th April 1945, Don had been on one of these Forced Marches for many weeks when they arrived at a village called Gresse where for the first time in weeks Red Cross parcels were received. The huge column of prisoners were unwrapping their parcels when RAF Typhoons were spotted coming towards them, Don and his mate had been sitting next to one of the guards when they realised that the Typhoons were going to strafe the column. The Typhoon pilots had mistaken the column for a German troop movement and let go with rockets and machine guns. Don and his mate dived into a ditch and when the planes had gone there was absolute carnage, 60 POWs dead and many, many more injured. The guard who had been sitting next to them had been killed and their rucksacks riddled with bullet holes. Don was certainly one of the lucky ones that day.
Don, who had during his time in captivity been promoted to Warrant Officer, made it home in time for the Victory Parade as seen in the photo that hangs in the Village Hall. He was so thin and malnourished that the Shoreham villagers used to leave tins of condensed milk on the doorstep to help build him up. Compare the two photos below, taken in 1941 and 1945.
Don spent the rest of his life in Shoreham, living at 45 High Street and Yew Tree Cottage opposite the Almshouses until he died at the age of 91. Once he returned from Germany he never left these shores again. He was a very active member of Shoreham football team, playing in the position of Goalkeeper and also a regular player for the cricket club. In later years he was a keen golfer and played at Knole. He was also a musician in the local dance band where he played the trumpet. He’s the uncle of Robin and Duncan Wood.
With many thanks to Don’s daughter Vivienne White and to Robin Wood.
The Victory Parade photo can be seen here.