Recognising Lost WW2 Aularian John Steele

It was thus an unpleasant surprise when the government announced that conscription would apply to those aged over 20, and that medics, engineers and some scientists would not be called up until they had finished their degrees. This meant that there would be an intake of Freshers and a return of many other students to the Hall that Michaelmas. The members of Westfield College were packed off to St Peter’s. As it was operating as normally as could be expected in the circumstances, the Hall became a key location for a new scheme from 1941 onwards where men called up for the Navy, Royal Signals and the RAF and who had been identified as ‘potential university material’ would be sent on a short 6-month university course while they awaited their summons for service training.

One of these young men was John Edwin Hosking Steele from Catford [South East London]. John matriculated in October 1941, part of the RAF contingent. He left at the end of his six months for flying training in Canada, and once this was over found himself posted to the RAF in the Far East, the so-called ‘Forgotten Air Force’. John joined 99 Squadron in 1945. The squadron is now renowned for its role as part of the RAF’s Air Mobility Force, flying the C-17 from Brize Norton, but was then a bomber unit, equipped with the American-made Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The squadron carried out long-distance raids against Japanese targets through the Burma theatre of operations as part of the preparations for the liberation of Burma, Malaya and Singapore. The atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the metaphorical straw which broke Japanese resistance, and they declared their capitulation on 15 August, VJ-Day. This, though, was not the formal end of the war.

That came on 2 September 1945 with the signing of the Japanese surrender at a ceremony in Tokyo Bay. In the interim, the role of the RAF bomber squadrons changed from destruction to salvation – recognition that there was a real risk of many prisoners of war dying from ill-health and starvation led to their being used to drop emergency supplies and information leaflets informing the recipients that the war was over to the POW camps. The next stage of the operation would see the delivery of small teams from the Special Operations Executive’s Force 136 who would enter and take over the running of the camps, and then there would be extensive air dropping of supplies. Once POWs had been fed properly, treated for ailments and in good enough health, they could start to be repatriated.

John Steele and 99 Squadron had moved to the Cocos Islands just days before the atom bombs were dropped. the Squadron was given the job of aiding POW camps in what is now Indonesia.

As well as dropping emergency supplies and leaflets, the aircrews prepared bundles of magazines, sweets from their ration packs and letters wishing the POWs well and giving general news about the outside world, something greatly appreciated by the recipients.

On 1 September, John Steele’s crew set out to deliver leaflets and their extra contributions for prisoner morale to the Sungei Ron POW camp at Palembang. This was not easy – the drop zone was small, and it required the large bomber to be flown low and just above its stalling speed to deliver supplies accurately. The first drop was a success, with a mixture of magazines, letters and small items falling amongst the POWs. As John manoeuvred for a second drop, something –went wrong. The Liberator’s speed fell away and before John could control it, the aircraft side-slipped into the ground and exploded. There were no survivors.

Reports from the POWs later said that one – and only one – Japanese guard laughed at the tragic spectacle and was promptly knocked out by an enraged prisoner. This sort of behaviour would normally have brought instant and brutal retribution, but this time, the shocked guards did nothing. One POW recalled that this was the turning point and they in effect took control of the camp, allowing them to gain supplies from locals ‘outside the wire’, and alleviating the hunger of many who might otherwise have died had their captors remained in full control even if only for a few more days.

John and his crew were buried with full honours in the grounds of a nearby church, and a number of Japanese officers, after pleading to be allowed to pay their respects, attended the funeral. John was 21 years of age and as the formal surrender had not been signed, the last Aularian to die in the Second World War.

The Hall was, of course, much smaller than it is now, and Principal Emden attempted to keep in contact with as many serving Aularians as he could and with their friends and families. This was not always possible, and news of John Steele’s death seems to have never reached the Hall. This meant that when the names of the Aularians who had fallen during the Second World War were added to the memorial in the Chapel, John’s name was not amongst them.

Now, 80 years after he died, this has been rectified and soon John Steele will be remembered alongside all those other Aularians who gave their lives during the Second World War.”

In memory of John Steele: 8 October 1923 – 1 September 1945