Eulogy for Philip Jenkinson

Eulogy for Philip Jenkinson

Describes early life, joining the RAF, training and joining 10 Squadron as mid-upper gunner on Halifax. Was shot down during operation to Munich on 6/7 September 1943. After evading was capture and prisoner of war until April 1945. Goes on with record of life after leaving the RAF. Concludes with account of Germans building memorial to a British crew shot down which happened to be Philip's older brothers crew and being befriended by German people.

Three page handwritten document

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

SJenkinsonLP1316403v10002

[underlined] PHILIP'S EARLY LIFE [/underlined]

1937 AT 14 WORKED ON A POULTRY FARM NEAR WHERE THEY LIVED AT CONSTANTINE, CORNWALL
1940 HE JOINED THE LDV (HOME GUARD)
1941 HE VOLUNTEERED FOR AIRCREW & TRAINED AS AN AIR GUNNER
SOME OF HIS TRAINING WAS DONE IN CANADA
EVENTUALLY HE JOINED No 10 SQUADRON AS A MID-UPPER GUNNER ON HALIFAXES
AUG 1943 I FIRST MET HIM WHEN HE WAS ON LEAVE AFTER 7 OPERATIONS OVER GERMANY
SAT 29 AUG HE RETURNED TO HIS SQUADRON (I STARTED MY RAF PILOT TRAING [sic] ON 30 AUG.)
NIGHT OF 6/7 SEPTEMBER PHILIP WAS SHOT DOWN DURING A RAID ON MUNICH.
HIS AIRCRAFT ON FIRE, PHILIP AND 5 CREW MEMBERS ESCAPED BY PARACHUTE. PILOT & REAGUNNER [sic] BOTH WENT DOWN WITH [deleted] E [/deleted] THE AIRCRAFT.
PHILIP AND HIS BOMB AIMER LANDED IN SAME FIELD BURIED THIER [sic] PARACHUTES AND STARTED TO WALK DUE WEST. IN THE DIRECTION OF SWITZERLAND
AFTER 9 [deleted] DA [/deleted] NIGHTS WALKING, WITH VERY LITTLE FOOD THEY CAME TO A TOWN, NOT TOO FAR FROM THE SWISS BORDER BUT WERE CAPTURED BY GERMAN SOLDIERS AND REMAINED PRISONERS OF WAR UNTIL 29 APRIL 1945 WHEN THEY WERE RELEASE [sic] BY THE DESERT RATS AND FLOWN HOME.
PHILIP HAD BEEN POSTED AS MISSING ON SEPTEMBER 7th AND IT WAS THEN THAT HIS MOTHER WAS ON THE WAY TO FALMOUTH ON THE BUS ALSO ON THE BUS WAS THE LOCAL POLICEMAN. HE CAME UP TO MRS JENKINSON (WHOME [sic] HE CALLED MRS PICKLES (THAT WAS THE FAMILY NICKNAME FOR PHILIP)

[page break]

AND SAID "SORRY TO HEAR [deleted] PHILIP [/deleted] PICKLES IS MISSING DONT WORRY, THE GERMANS WONT CATCH HIM BECAUSE I NEVER COULD!)
I RETURNED HOME FROM SOUTHERN RHODESIA WHERE I HAD BEEN DOING MY FLYING TRAING [sic]. PHILIP MET ME AND INVITED ME HOME TO DINNER. THAT IS WHEN I MET HIS LITTLE SISTER EVELYN WHOM I MARRIED IN 1948. PHILIP WAS MY BEST MAN AT OUR WEDDING
AT ONE TIME PHILIP AND I SERVED ON THE SAME RAF SQUADRON WHERE WE FLEW IN TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT TO INDIA. PHILIP AS LOADMASTER AND ME AS 2ND PILOT.

IN 1947 PHILIP CAME OUT OF THE RAF AND WENT TO MANAGE A POULTRY FARM, I THINK OWNED BY A.G. STREET, A FAMOUS BROADCASTER
HE MARRIED HIS FIRST WIFE NORA IN SEPTEMBER 1947.
UNFORTUNATELY THAT MARRIAGE WAS NOT A SUCSESS [sic], but THEY HAD A SON, DAVID WHO IS HERE TODAY.
BY 1956 HE MET AND MARRIED JEAN – TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT PHILIP AND JEAN MOVED TO ALSCOTT FARM, HERE AT SHEBBEAR.
FOR THE FIRST FIVE YEARS AT ALSCOT [sic] MY WIFE AND I WERE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PHILIP. BUT THEN IT WAS DECIDED THAT WE SHOULD GO OUR OWN WAYS AND EVELYN AND I RETURNED TO FARM IN CORNWAL [sic]
PHILIP AND I ALWAYS REMAINED GOOD FRIENDS AND, OF COURSE, WE WILL MISS HIM TERRIBLY.

[symbol] GERMAN FRIENDS
SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE IN CHURCH he bombed

[page break]

GERMAN CONNECTION.

IN 1983 WE READ IN THE RAF NEWS THAT THE GERANS [sic] [indecipherable letters] HAD BUILT A MEMORIAL TO A BRITISH CREW SHOT DOWN IN JANURY [sic] 1945
THIS SO HAPPENED TO BE PHILIPS ELDER BROTHERS PETER'S CREW – IT WAS BUILT AS A BRIDGE OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND GERMAN PEOPLE.
IN 1988 WE DECIDED WE MUST GO TO GERMANY TO SEE THIS MEMORIAL, WHICH WE DID
WE WERE PUT IN TOUCH WITH A GERMAN AIR HISTORIAN WHO INVITED US TO STAY WITH HIM.
IT WAS HE WHO TOOK US TO THE FARM ON WHICH PHILIPS AIRCRAFT HAD CRASH [sic].
THIS WAS THE START OF A VERY CLOSE FRIENDSHIP WITH GERMAN PEOPLE [inserted] AT THAT FARM [/inserted] AND WE WENT TO STAY WITH THEM YEAR AFTER [indecipherable letters] YEAR.
JUST BEFORE WE LEFT HOME TO COME TO DEVON TO ATTEND PHILIPS FUNERAL I RECEIVED A TELEPHONE CALL FROM OUR [inserted] GERMAN [/inserted] FRIEND, MARY BETH TO SAY THAT [deleted] TODAY [/deleted] [inserted] ON THE 31st DECEMBER [/inserted] THEY WERE TO HOLD A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR PHILIP, AT THE LITTLE CHURCH [inserted] WHICH [/inserted] HAD BEEN BADLY DAMAGED BY BOMBS JETISONED [sic] BY PHILIPS AIRCRAF [sic]. WHAT WONDERFUL FRIENDS THESE GERMAN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN.