Frome's Fallen Heroes - World War Two

The natural follow-on from his first book, which recalled the local men who had lost their lives in the Great War, local historian David Adams has now published “Frome’s Fallen Heroes – World War Two.

From the onset the thing that strikes you when you read through this book is the sheer effort and work that has gone into writing it. Painstakingly researched, and with the essential attention to detail, it chronicles the fate of over 130 men from Frome and the surrounding villages who paid the ultimate price in the service of their country. Listed alphabetically by name, it includes details such as serial no., rank, regiment, when they died (and at what age), where buried (if known) and on what memorial their name can be found. It is surely a matter of local shame that a few are not remembered on any memorial at all.

If this book was merely a directory-style listing, then in a sense it would have fulfilled one of the aims of the author: namely a permanent record, in one place, of the men from the region who perished on many a foreign field in the fight to preserve the liberty that we all now take for granted. The triumph of this book is that it lifts the names from the memorials, gives the reader an outline on how they lived before the war and, with the help of many eye-witness accounts and available archive material, recounts the final hours and days of their all-too brief lives.

The roll of honour is not merely restricted to those who fell overseas. The fates of two A.R.P wardens killed when a German bomber dropped its payload of bombs onto Nunney Road and Broadway, Frome in April of 1941 is recalled in detail.

Open the book anywhere and you are struck by the bravery and courage shown by these local men, who prior to the hostilities were ordinary people living ordinary lives in or around a quiet market town. Local farmers, toolmakers and dairy workers who suddenly found themselves hundreds of miles away facing hardship, danger and ultimately the stark finality of death

Once you start reading about an individuals experience it is impossible to put the book down until you have read the whole piece. The author draws you in with expertly written narrative on the background, action and outcome of each of the conflicts that they faced for the final time.

However it is when eyewitness accounts are presented that the book moves up another level. The sinking of H.M.S. Repulse in December 1941 which claimed the life of Albert Markey of Innox Hill, Frome is recalled by one of the survivors. He describes watching the ship go down and the agonising time spent in the water waiting to be rescued. His eloquent recollections conclude with the words “It had been the longest day of my life. For 840 of my shipmates it had been the last”.

There are numerous other stories that emerge from the book that grab the attention. The tale of the Nunney girl who lost her father in the Great War and her husband in the Second World War is particularly moving. In 2001 David Adams took the lady to the Menin Gate at Ypres and then on into Germany to see for the first and last time her fathers name on the memorial and her husbands final resting place. Sadly she passed away last year.

At the back of the book there is the tragic story of the H.M.S Thetis/Thunderbolt, the submarine which in February 1942 had been adopted by “the citizens of the Urban and Rural Districts of Frome”. Its double tragedy is possibly unique in the annals of maritime history.

8 years after the publication of “Frome’s Fallen Heroes – The Great War”, this new book neatly rounds off the contribution and sacrifices made by some of the men and women of the region in the face of the two global conflicts that the world has suffered. It is also, in its own way, a piece of social history which at times gently recalls the calm before the storm.

“Frome’s Fallen Heroes – World War Two” is now available at £10 a copy plus £2.95 to cover postage and packing. To order a copy please e-mail fromesfallenheroes@blueyonder.co.uk