As the leaves begin to fall on another autumn it is a special time of remembrance for all who have fought and fallen in their service to our country. As we gather at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday the names of all those village men are read out and I would like to focus on just one – Flying Officer Major ‘Hugh’ Oddie who served and died during WW2 on June 25th 1943. The grandson of a former headmaster of Sibford School, he was a secondary school Science teacher and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on the 4th of November 1941. Promoted to Flying Officer on the 1st of October 1942, he served with the 78 Squadron.

He took off from RAF Breighton in a Handley Page Halifax JB928 EY-S at 23:40 on the 26th of June 1943 for an operation on Gelsenkirchen, noted for its oil refineries. 214 Lancasters, 134 Halifaxes, 73 Stirlings, 4 Wellingtons and 12 Mosquitos were dispatched for the first raid on the town in two years. After crossing the Dutch coast, the bomber stream encountered 10/10ths cloud all the way which prevented the bombers making a concentrated attack resulting in only minor damage to the target. During this mission Oddie’s aircraft was attacked by a German night fighter, a Bf 110 G-4 piloted by Major Rolf Luchs of 11/NJG1. Hugh Oddie continued to pilot his plane enabling his crew to bail out. They all survived and were taken prisoner by the Germans. Hugh Oddie’s brave actions saved his crew while he was killed when his plane crashed at 00:51 on the 26th of June in Northern Holland.

A memorial window on the south side of the nave in Holy Trinity Church recognises his extreme bravery and sacrifice. The inscription is at the base of the light and reads:

In loving memory of
Flying Officer Hugh Oddie.
Born 21 July 1914. Gave his life 26 June 1943.
Buried at Bergen in Holland.
“Thy Son Liveth” John 4.51.

Immediately above the inscription is a medallion picture of Hugh Oddie in uniform.

The whole light is bordered by a narrow, treble banding consisting mainly of plain glass strips interrupted by shades of blue stained glass. At the top of the light is the Royal Air Force crest beneath which are two heraldic shields. It is a single-light, stained-glass window depicting two colourful centralised figures, comprising Saul at the feet of Gamaliel. (Gamaliel was a Pharisee, a wise man amember of the Jewish Council and well versed in Jewish Law. He was teacher and mentor to Saul before his conversion and before he became the Apostle Paul.) The memorial window was dedicated by the Rt Rev the Bishop of Oxford at Evensong in Holy Trinity Church on Sunday 15 July 1945

Maureen Hicks