ASHTEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWII
Sgt Dennis Charles Girdler (Marsh) RAFVR
12 OTU, Chipping Warden
Sgt Girdler is listed by CWGC as Sgt Dennis Charles Marsh:
Name: Dennis Charles Marsh
Rank: Sergeant (Nav.)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Age: 18
Date of Death: 16/09/1942
Service No: 1384344
Additional information: Son of Gertrude Annie Marsh, and
stepson of Wilfred Charles Girdler, of Ashtead, Surrey.
Grave/Memorial Reference: 4. A. 24 Cemetery: Rheinberg War
Cemetery
Sergeant DC Marsh was the Navigator aboard Wellington Mark III, BJ730, of No 12 Operational Training Unit which took off from Chipping Warden at 2026 hrs on 16th September 1942 to attack Essen. It was one of two Wellingtons from 12 OTU that failed to return from this attack.
The rest of the crew are listed as:
Pilot: Pilot Officer FJ Adams
Observer [Bomb Aimer in this crew]: Flight Sergeant CW Hall
RCAF
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner: Sergeant N Whitfield
Air Gunner: Sergeant GM Caldwell RCAF
The cause of their loss is not given but theirs was one of 39 aircraft, from a total of 369, which were lost on the raid. The attack was considered to have been "successful" with 33 large and 80 medium fires. 8 industrial and 6 transport premises were hit. The Krupps industrial complex received 15 high explosive bombs.
Information retrieved from RAF Bomber Command Losses 1939-45, Vol 3. 1942 (WR Chorley) and Bomber Command War Diaries (Middlebrook & Everitt).
Bill Chorley writes: "During the period spanned by the [1000 bomber] Cologne raid at the end of May and the attack on Essen in mid-September, the OTUs had joined the Main Force in eight major operations. Their contribution had been highly professional, but only at the expense of losing many highly experienced instructors, which were not easily replaced. Material losses amounted to 130 aircraft , the majority of these being classified as missing. The Essen raid marks the end of OTU involvement in major bombing attacks, but leaflet sorties over the occupied countries were destined to continue until the Summer of 1944."
Dennis's mother Gertrude Annie Marsh was born 14 Aug 1897 and baptized on 17th October 1897 at St Mary’s Ewell, daughter of William (a Labourer) and Eliza. Her marriage at the age of 27 to Wilfred CH Girdler was registered at Epsom in September 1927. So when Dennis signed up he would have been attested under the name registered at his birth and was recognised by it at his death.
His step-father Wilfred Charles Hollington Girdler was from Bradfield or Tilehurst, Berkshire, born 5th September 1895. In the 1901 Census WCH Girdler was living at Vale Lodge Cottages, Leatherhead. In the 1911 Census, aged 15, his parents' home was at Park Farm Cottages, Ashtead. He saw war service in the 5th Lincolnshire Regiment. The 1919 to 1925 Electoral Registers show him living at Highlands Farm Cottages, Leatherhead with his parents and siblings.
Sgt Wilfred Girdler 1st/5th Lincolns' marriage to Dorothy Clare Polden, a Domestic Servant of Highlands Farm Cottages, at Leatherhead Parish Church (SS Mary & Nicholas) was on June 17th 1919. One of the witness signatures appears to be that of Wilfred's father, David.
All aircrew were volunteers and had to meet above average physical and educational requirements. As a Navigator Dennis Marsh/Girdler would have required a good grasp of mathematics and so probably would have had the equivalent of a technical or grammar school education.
Wilfred CH Girdler remarried, to Gertrude Annie Marsh in 1927. What happened to his first wife Dorothy is not yet known.
In the 1945 Electoral Register Wilfred and Gertrude were living at 4 Taylor Road, Ashtead. In March 1974 Gertrude's death, aged 76, was registered in Surrey Mid-eastern district and Charles's aged about 84 in Q3 1979, Sutton District.
Within the family and locally Dennis Marsh would appear to have become known by the name of his stepfather, Girdler, which is perhaps why he appears that way on the St George’s War Memorial. He had been a member of the Ashtead Scout Troop.
research by: Brian Bouchard, Ann Williams, Frank Haslam
page created 18 Feb 14: update 1 Mar 14