June 4, 2019

75 Years On: Remembering LP’s D Day Fallen

As the world reflects on the sacrifices and heroism witnessed on the Normandy beaches 75 years ago, a chance to reflect on two Old Leightonians who also lost their lives on June 6th 1944.

NIGEL DAVID RIVIERE CALKIN (Grove, 1935-1939)

In The Leightonian magazine, the obituary reads “He was the last peacetime Head of Grove, and when he left in July 1939 he went on a travel scholarship passing through Germany, Italy and France. From Germany he wrote of the friendliness of everyone he met. That was natural, for he himself radiated friendliness and he would be bound to make those he met like him whether they were German or English. He was unfailingly cheerful and confident and it was impossible to resist his infectious good nature.

It is no wonder that one of his Commanding Officers wrote of him: “Apart from his efficiency and trustworthiness as an N.C.O. and his ability as an instructor (in both of which capacities he was one of the best in the battalion) I could always rely on him—unofficially—to put right anyone who had got depressed or was going to pieces.” As a prefect at school he was a delightful boy to work with—reliable and efficient, always courteous, with an unusual maturity and poise for his age, a boy with high standards and the best interests of the school at heart.

After he left, he first entered a firm of Lloyds’ insurance brokers and then enlisted in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. In April 1941 he was recommended for a commission and was gazetted to the Royal Artillery in 1942. He served in Persia and Egypt and then took part in the landing in Sicily. His division returned home in November 1943 and he became Assistant Adjutant, and on June 6th he took part in the landing in Normandy. On the same day he was taking a tank forward and was leaning out of the turret—probably to check his route—when he was shot in the head by a German sniper. Thus he died tragically at the hands of one of the same people he had found so friendly in August 1939.

His country and the School have lost a splendid spirit who had much to give to his generation in leadership and character for David Calkin was a young man of great promise. We mourn for him deeply and we think especially of his parents who have lost so much and to whom we offer our sincere sympathy.”

ANTHONY HASTINGS BASSETT (Reckitt, 1937-1940)

The Head, Edgar Castle wrote in The Leightonian “We have heard with great grief that Sub-Lieutenant Anthony (Tony) Bassett, R.N.V.R., was killed over Normandy on June 6th, 1944, at the age of 21. He was killed instantly, shot down by “ flak ” and lies buried beside his plane near Hermanville-sur-Mer.

We have vivid memories of his zest for life, his shining eyes taking in the beauty of the Park of which he was so conscious, his utterly healthy enthusiasms, his prowess at games and his clean joy of physical achievement. He played for the Colts XV in his first term, for the Colts Cricket XI in his first Summer, for the First Hockey XI, for the Second XV, and he was a member of the School Athletics Team in his second year. But he never allowed games to interfere with work. He had too keen a sense of what life would demand of him to be merely a sportsman. He was tenacious and consistent in every task he undertook. And yet beneath an admirable doggedness there was a most sensitive spirit alive to beauty in all its forms.

Tony joined the Home Guard in 1940, the A.T.C. in 1941 and the Reading University Air Squadron in the same year. In 1942 he joined the Fleet Air Arm and finished his training in Ontario in 1943. From that time he was on active service till his death in Normandy. Throughout his training his enthusiasm never left him. The hazards of the air fascinated him and turned all danger into poetry. He took all adventure as it came and through all the disciplines and roughnesses of service life his love for the simplest beauties of the countryside remained undiminished.

Notes in his diary reveal an unspoilt spirit: “ On returning to hotel I ran into a cinema show. This mobile artificial sort of pleasure compared with the glory of nature from which I had just come struck me with great force. Some people cannot appreciate simple beauty—Man is strange.” Young as he was when he died, we have to acknowledge that he had lived longer than most of us because of the fulness of his living.”

Black and White portrait of former Head of Grove Nigel Calkin

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