Page 210 - The Bugle 2018

The Guyzance Tragedy Commemoration
The Guyzance Tragedy commemoration took place at the Guyzance memorial on Wed 17 January 2018, 73 years to the day since eight DLI Trainees and two from the Duke of Wellington Regiment were swept over the weir at Guyzance and drowned. They had been training for river crossing towards the end of WW2 and were preparing to be posted to Europe to
take part in the advance into Germany. The weather on 17 January 2018 was cold, but bright and sunny and the remembrance party spent time polishing the memorial and sweeping the plinth as it tends to be a trifle neglected being so deep in the countryside. The ceremony which was established in 1995, against great opposition from the MOD, by Bernard Seyburn who had been a DLI corporal at the Felton Training Centre in 1945 and Vera Vaggs who had been a local teenager from the village, is now well estab- lished. At the ceremony the DLI was represented by the Association Chairman Maj (Retired) Paul Wharton MM, the Vice Chairman, Maj (Retired) Chris Lawton MBE DL Rifles Secretary Durham and Lt Col (Retired) John Heron TD (Association Secretary), while an Association Standard was carried by the Stockton Standard Bearer Terry Gilbert. A surprising number of local people turned up for the ceremony, which is clearly growing in importance in the village and which was attended by representatives from the local parish council, the church and the community. Afterwards everyone was invited to the Acklington Village Hall for tea, coffee and cakes, while some called in for lunch at the Northumberland Arms in Felton before setting off for home.
Members of the local villages around Guyzance join the Annual DLI contingent at the Guyzance Memorial in memory of those who perished during training on 17 January 1945
DLI war hero George gets his century
A Wearside war hero who took part in the Siege of Tobruk before spending 18 months as a prisoner of war has been honoured by members of his former regiment on his 100th birthday.
George “Sid” Elliott was presented with a commemorative statue by members of the Durham Light Infantry Association’s Sunderland branch. Son-in-law Keith Darke, who is married to daughter Moira, said George had been born in Berwick and only moved to Sunderland after the war.
Michael McMahon, from the DLI Association, took up the story of George’s war service. “He was called up in 1940 and enlisted at Brancepeth Castle in the First Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry,” he said. The First Battalion got posted to Egypt and George was at Tobruk, then he went to Malta to be part of the defence of the island. Getting wind of a planned mass German invasion, the British forces evacuated to the Greek Islands, where George was part of the reinforcements for the recently surrendered Italian garrison on Leros. Taken prisoner in an invasion by the German’s crack Brandenburg Corps, he was sent to Stalag 11A Altengrabow, just outside Berlin, where he spent 18 months before being liberated by the Americans in 1945.
After the war he met his wife Elizabeth in Sunderland. Elizabeth passed away 15 years ago, but the couple have a second daughter, Eileen Carr, two grandchildren and five great grandchildren. Family and friends gathered for George’s party at Falstone Manor Care Home, where he has lived since June.
George “Sid” Elliot celebrates his 100th birthday with members of Sunderland Branch
216 REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS
THE RIFLES
Commemoration of the gallantry of Pte Thomas Young VC
Thomas Young was from the village of High Spen in County Durham. His real name was Thomas Morrell but he enlisted under the surname Young, which was his stepmother’s surname. He was 23 years old, and a private and stretcher-bearer in the 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, when in the Great War during the period 25/31 March 1918 at Bucquoy, France, he worked unceasingly to evacuate the wounded from seemingly impos- sible places. On nine different occasions he went out in front of British lines in broad daylight, under heavy rifle, machine-gun and shell fire and brought back wounded to safety. Those too badly wounded to be moved before dressing, he dressed under fire and then carried them back unaided. As a result of his gallantry actions he saved the lives of nine seriously injured servicemen. For these actions he was awarded the Victoria Cross which was presented to him by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 30th June 1918.
An inscribed paving stone to commem- orate the gallantry of Thomas Young VC was unveiled and dedicated at the Boldon War Memorial on 27 March 2018 in the presence of many members of his family, the Mayor of South Tyneside Cllr Olive Punchion, the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary of the DLI Association, Buglers, Association members from branches across the county, servicemen from local units and veterans. The Parade Commander was Mr Norman Dick of the South Shields Branch DLI Association. After the ceremony invited guests returned to the Town Hall in South Shields for a commem- orative lunch, where they were presented with tokens of the occasion.