Honour for war hero is overdue (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Honour for war hero is overdue

Bob Gurney who has been tending his grave Ref: 99655-104THE man who embarked on a painstaking search to uncover Harold Starr's neglected grave is thrilled the war hero's courage has been nationally celebrated.

With a young bride and an unborn child waiting for him to return to Swindon the 25-year-old fighter pilot was shot through the heart during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Bob Gurney, a Battle of Britain enthusiast of West Swindon, is delighted Harold's name has been carved into a bronze monument on London's embankment, to ensure he will never be forgotten.

Between July 10 and October 31, 1940, the RAF and the German Luftwaffe fought for air supremacy over Britain during the Second World War.

"I have always felt that if you have no sense of your past then it was impossible to have any sense of where your future is going," said Mr Gurney.

"I was born in 1940 and so I have grown up in peaceful years. Sadly Harold did not and never really had a life.

"This is why I am so happy that Harold and all the other men who fought in the battle have finally been recognised in this way."

This is not the only time however that Harold's selfless bravery, while he was attached to the 253 Squadron, based at Kenley, Surrey, has been remembered.

In 1983 Mr Gurney, 64, a former RAF serviceman and firefighter, made the first steps on a long journey of discovery to uncover the story of the squadron commander's life.

And last year Mr Gurney presented a bell, which was used during the battle to scramble airmen, to the Battle of Britain Museum in Folkestone, Kent.

"I first read about him in a book called Jewel of Eagles, which featured this pilot from Swindon," he said.

"When I learnt his body had been flown back to Swindon and buried at the Radnor Street cemetery I wanted to find the grave.

"It took me three visits but eventually I found it. The grave was overgrown and the inscription was covered by moss, it was unreadable.

"It was so sad because Harold's family had either moved away or died so there was no one left to maintain it."

He added: "I put flowers on the grave on the anniversary of Harold's death, on Battle of Britain Sunday, on Remembrance Sunday and at Christmas and I will carry on as long as I'm able to.

Harold, who was born at the Central Hotel, Regent Street which is now a Wetherspoons pub on September 8, 1914 and had one sister and two brothers.

He joined the RAF as a 21-year-old in 1934.

But he almost had his wings clipped when he crashed a Hawker Audax two-seater fighter plane into a field in South Marston on June 5, 1936. He returned to flying in 1939.

"It was extremely sad when he died," said Mr Gurney.

It was August 31 when Harold was shot down. The German Luftwaffe gunned down his Hurricane but he managed to bail out.

"The tragedy is that Harold was shot through the heart in cold blood while he was hanging in his parachute.

"His wife Bette was still in Swindon and pregnant. They had been married for just eight months.

"Two months after Harold died she gave birth to a baby girl who had Down's syndrome. She died aged four."

Harold's brother, Norman, was also killed by the German Luftwaffe.

"He was on his way back from Belgium to Wroughton to get married in 1945," said Mr Gurney.

"As he flew over Dunkirk he didn't know it was still German territory and they blew him out of the sky." He was just 28.

Lyndsay Scanlan