Patrick John Edmonds

This story and photos are shared by the Trust with kind permission from David Hiddleston, Project Coordinator, Chorleywood u3a WW2 project. Photo of Patrick Edmonds courtesy of radleyarchives.co.uk

Patrick was born in 1913 in Thrapston, Northants, the son of John Edmonds and Mabel Marion Edmonds (née Bolam); who lived at Eastcote, Berks Hill, Chorleywood. He attended Radley College, and their remembrance website carries the following:

“When Pat Edmonds first came to Radley, he was large for his age, but very shy. It did not take him long, however, to find his feet, and, keeping always very fit, he became a great defender of smaller boys in Social Hall. From the moment that he first tried sculling, he made up his mind to concentrate on rowing. It was not long before he was in his Social IV and later in the 2nd VIII. If he had stayed another year, he would almost certainly have rowed at Henley. His other passion lay in the workings of various types of engines from motorcycles to Flying Scotsmen. Shortly after leaving Radley, he went to an Engineering College, and when war broke out, he had the utmost difficulty in obtaining his release from a reserved occupation in order to join the RAFVR.” This he managed to do in 1941, and two years later, on 21st May 1943, he was commissioned into 115 Squadron.

Patrick, at the end on the left, on a bomber conversion course, prior to converting to the Lancaster Bomber. Standing next to him is John (Jack) Wesley who served in the crew with him. The photograph was sent by Jack to his family and reads, 'To All at Home, With Best Wishes, from Jack. 24.1.44'.

 

On the morning of the 7 June 1944, a day after the D-Day landings, 23 Lancaster aircraft of 115 Squadron took off from their base at RAF Witchford, near Ely. Cambridgeshire. Patrick was the navigator on Lancaster 111 LM533 KO-T along with six other crew. The target was the railway marshalling yards at Lisieux, an important rail and road junction, with an aim of restricting the movement of German reinforcements to the Caen area.

The mission involved 1065 bombers and 4388 tonnes of bombs. Unfortunately, cloud cover over much of the NW territories of France hampered accuracy and there were French civilian casualties.

The raid on the railway at Acheres was abandoned by the master bomber as the cloud was too dense, otherwise all the targets were successfully hit and advances of German troops hampered. Eleven aircraft were lost, including Patrick’s, which disappeared without trace. He was aged thirty and is remembered on the Runnymede and Normandy Memorials.

British Normandy Memorial - Additonal Information

The story of Patrick Edmonds is one of many that will feature in a book Chorleywood during World War Two which is to be published in Autumn 2025. It can be purchased through the Chorleywood Bookshop.

You can read the story of another member of the crew of LM533, John (Jack) Marcus Wesley, here