"The Major", as we, in my family, used to call our great mentor. - Don Cleary
His funeral is arranged for 2:30 on Tuesday April 16th {2013}. Howard did not want a big church funeral and wished to be cremated so there will be a brief service at the Tunbridge Wells Crematorium - location is on the internet.
The Star & Eagle is the venue for a get together afterwards, it's in the centre of Goudhurst with parking at the rear.
- Brian Speight
Forty people attended, with five members of his family.
The British Legion detachment and most of the local people who had known Howard seemed unaware of his early life and wartime experience and were very interested in hearing about this, since the vicar, also lacking in information, used my tribute {below} as the basis for his address.
I was able to answer questions in detail at the pub and many wanted to know how to get the internet link to find out more.
I was able to convey the deep affection and respect that we all held for our inspirational teacher in an effort to represent us all.
The Head-teacher from Chandos was there, having had to make many alterations to his schedule for Tuesday, his first day back after the Easter break.
Other teaching staff that came represented Maskalls School including one who said he had been the first teacher appointed by Howard after he took control and remembered the No1 and No2 orders issued by the Major and having to sign as having read and understood them.
- Don Cleary
Howard Crawley MBE was laid to rest yesterday, after his requested simple service.
A number of people asked me for more details of his earlier life as a teacher and his wartime experiences, since few were aware of his past, simply knowing him as Howard, a local senior citizen.
I have decided to add a few more details to my earlier tribute for their information.
Not wishing to provide too much to read, I had omitted a few details I would now like to add:
Howard had continued to maintain contact with the men of his platoon.
Meeting up with them on a very regular basis at a services club in London.
The numbers attending gradually diminished as they left the battlefield.
After the last one died, Howard’s visits also came to an end.
It is significant that like his ex-pupils who had wished to maintain contact with their respected teacher, the men who fought alongside him in the jungle also wanted to be with him in later life.
Howard also made an effort to attend a number of the gatherings organised with great skill by ex-pupil Brian Speight and his friends in the ‘54’ club.
Again, they were delighted to maintain the contact and he was a much-respected guest.
I have talked about Howard to other teachers over the years.
Many have expressed the hope that their teaching would have produced a similar following, but it's clear that they doubted it.
With today’s restrictions it would not be possible to repeat his expedition to the Chiltern Hills.
The extra workload for this operation that Howard undertook matched his dedication to teaching.
He would spend a lot of time preparing for a lesson on geography, by hand drawing and colouring maps of the countries scheduled for discussion.
The simple embossed rubber maps provided were not sufficient in his eyes but his work on the blackboard gave us a clear illustration of the countries under discussion and their structure.
Howard grew up on the Petworth estate, where his father was the land agent. The famous Fred Grower was a friend of the head gardener there and Howard, who had a wonderful Sussex accent from his youth, told about the time he asked Fred about his secret for growing roses.
“Well yung Oward, what you need is to dig a deep trench and then line it with newspapers.
Don’t matter what papers they are, but them roses do enjoy a good read as they grow”.
After the Atom Bomb brought operations to an end in Burma and with hundreds of Japanese prisoners to deal with Howard decided to put them to work to construct a clubhouse, utilising the available wood from the teak forests.
Regrettably no photos exist of the finished building but Howard was very pleased with the end result.
More about 77 Brigade of Chindits
After volunteering for service with the Chindits, Howard was interviewed by Brigadier ‘Mad Mike’ Calvert, the commander of 77th Brigade, and acknowledged as Orde Wingate’s his most tenacious Chindit commander.
Asked by the Brigadier if he could kill a man with his bare hands, Howard replied of course, if he had to. He was accepted.
There are many grim stories from that campaign that Howard told me in confidence.
They will not be mentioned here to maintain that confidence.
Howard and his platoon took part in the battle for Mogaung.
This was a departure from the normal Chindit role of operating out in the
jungle, but Mogaung was a vital prelude to the elimination of the Japanese in Burma.
During this attack Rifleman Tul Bahadur Pun, a Rifleman
in the 3rd Battalion, 6th
Gurkha Rifles,) was awarded the Victoria Cross for his single-handed gallantry as part of B Company’s attack on the ‘Red House’.
Howard said that Tulbahadur Pun and these Gurkhas were about 500 yards away from his platoon.
From Wikipedia:
Pun was 21 years old, and a Rifleman
in the 3rd Battalion, 6th
Gurkha Rifles, in the Indian Army during World War II when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
On 23 June 1944 at Mogaung,
Burma,
during an attack on the railway bridge, a section of one of the platoons was wiped out with the exception of Rifleman Tul Bahadur Pun, his section commander and one other.
The section commander immediately led a charge on the enemy position but was at once badl wounded, as was the third man.
Rifleman Pun, with a Bren gun continued the charge alone in the face of shattering fire and reaching the position, killed three of the occupants and put five more to flight, capturing two light machine-guns and much ammunition.
He then gave accurate supporting fire, enabling the rest of his platoon to reach their objective.
Later, the Americans claimed to have taken Mogaung.
Brigadier Carter sent them a message saying:
“Americans take Maugaung, Chindits take Umbrage.”
This had the Americans searching their maps to find the location of Umbrage.
Known as the Forgotten Army, these troops did not get home for a year after other forces had been stood down.
When you go home don't worry about what to tell your loved ones and friends about service in Asia.
No one will know where you were, or where it is if you do.
You are, and will remain "The Forgotten Army."
- attributed to General
Slim.
The War Cemetery in Kohima has the famous inscription "When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"- The Kohima
Epitaph
is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds
(1875–1958), and is thought to have been inspired by the epitaph of Simonides written by Simonides
to honour the Spartans who fell at the of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
Until recent years, Howard used to read the Kohima Address at the Goudhurst commemoration for Armistice Day.
- Don Cleary
Howard Crawley was our form master for the year 1952 - 1953.
The photo was taken the week before we broke up for the Summer Holidays of 1953 on the concrete slope from the main playground down to a path leading towards the Gym. Our classroom huts were off to the right and out of sight of the picture.
- John Rutter
This photo wasn't taken at any particular occasion, except that it was nearing the end of our first two years of attendance at the school (Autumn 1951 till Summer 1953). Many of us had passed the 13+ exams and were going on to Kilburn Polytechnic, Hendon Tech. and Willesden Tech. etc. (Incidentally, Alex Wharton joined up with Mickey Most to make up "The Most Brothers".)
Mr Howard Charles Crawley’s Service Record shows that he was awarded the 1939-45 War Medal and Star.
- Brian Cole
I was at Chandos from September 1947 to June 1952 - staying on longer because of illness in 1950. The greatest influence during my last 18 months was the late Howard Crawley. He was without any doubt the best teacher I ever had. Apart from class work, his enthusiasm in helping me with sport, mainly athletics, but also with badminton, has stayed with me throughout my over 40 years as runner... during this time I have tried to use his “way” with people and when helping younger runners at my club here in New Zealand.
If anyone wants to email (click on 'Contact me'), I will write more about those times - if the interest is there.
- Mike Dickson
With the sad departure of Howard Crawley MBE to a more important place, many of his ex pupils will regret the passing of someone who was a huge influence on their formative years.
To many of us who had experienced the war us he was a hero, having been dropped behind the Japanese front lines in Burma and leading his Chindit platoon of six men to cut vital supply lines and communications.
The glider carrying them had crashed into the jungle at the edge of the landing strip.
Some troops were killed immediately, but Howard got away with losing eight teeth
and probable damage to a kidney that had to be removed in the 60’s.
After a brief spell to recover he and his team had to set off with huge packs as he lead his men into battle.
They were on their own, re-supplied with food from the air or since this often failed living off what the jungle could provide “Have you ever eaten rat Donald? Quite tasty really” said Howard.
As with many ex-servicemen, he was reluctant to talk about those grim days, but one story that did emerge related to a need to re-supply his platoon with grenades.
This entailed rowing across the Irrawaddi river fast flowing and about half a mile wide.
Typically, Howard selected himself for what became a difficult operation, with an Indian soldier selected his rower.
The dangerous return trip with a boat-full of primed grenades took over 6 hours as they were constantly swept down stream, eventually being forced to land in an area swarming with Japs.
If attacked they would be blown to smithereens.
The grenades then had to be carried through the enemy and back to the platoon.
Howard received an award and was also Mentioned in Despatches for his gallantry, but insisted that his rower should also receive recognition.
He was a disciplinarian and known to us boys as “Creepy Crawley”.
He marched everywhere and his laser like eyes missed nothing.
His raised right eyebrow signaled trouble.
Little wonder that we were rather scared of him coming into his class, but this developed into huge respect for this brilliant and inspiring teacher.
It is significant that so many of his pupils have wanted to
keep in touch with him.
On our first day his opening address to us was “You chaps are going to be with me for your last year at Chandos.
During this time I will call you men, unless you start to act like little girls, in which case I will call you little girls … do we understand each other!”
Whenever we transgressed he would give us a girls name, in my case Clara Cleary.
At the 60th celebration for Chandos I sat with Howard as a number of his ex pupils came up and introduced themselves, many saying you may not remember me but I was Jenny Jenkins, or whatever their given appellation was. They all delivered the same message of thanks for inspiring them in life.
Lessons with Howard were never a drag.
He instructed us in constructing three-dimensional maps of the nearby Chiltern Hills, quickly followed by instructions on how to use his compass, the one he had used in the jungle.
A coach was then organised to drop us off in the Chilterns.
“You know what this place looks like from your models.
I’ve taught you to read maps. I'm now giving you map-references to get you from points A to B. I have told you that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line … you won't be able to do this across country, but you had better be somewhere close to it …
Do you understand?”
We understood and did the exercise with success and huge satisfaction.
All the former pupils I have spoken to say the same things about Howard...
He taught us discipline. He opened our eyes to the benefits of knowledge and encouraged us to do well. He told us to read the press, since we would be studying current affairs together, something I have done ever since. He was an inspirational teacher.
After leaving Chandos, Howard became head teacher at a number of schools where a disciplined approach was needed.
His final appointment was at Mascalls in Kent, where he was given 5 million pounds to completely overhaul the school, including new buildings. In a military fashion he issued No1 and No2 orders to his staff, these had to be signed for; to ensure complete understanding and adherence.
One wing was recently named Howard Crawley Wing.
We were convinced he would make his century, very significant to such a huge cricket fan, but sadly he was bowled out at almost 99.
- Don Cleary, ex-Chandos 1952