One of the few

It gives one a strange feeling to see one’s own name on a brass plate
‘in memorial’ inside a church porch. Not exactly my name but that of a
relative, my father’s cousin:

Fl. Lt. R.E. Lovett. DFC
Killed in aerial combat.
7th September 1940
‘One of the few’

Having rung the door bell of the sexton who lived next door to the
church we waited non-expectantly as the house appeared deserted. The
church was shut and he had the key. When he appeared, however, I
explained the purpose of my visit having learned from a cousin of the
existence of this plate and some of the circumstances of Reg Lovett’s death.
The sexton was most obliging and to my amazement described the aircraft’s
last moments as it crashed not many yards away in a field close by the church
itself. It was a great surprise to find an eye witness of the event still alive and
able to point to the spot where the plane crashed.

After I had taken several photos of the plate, Mr. J. Webb the sexton,
gave us directions on how to get to the site of the crash, of which nothing now
remains. This was along a path which had what was quaintly called a ‘kissing
gate’ and led to an open meadow. Standing on or near the spot it was easy to
visualise it happening and I offered a prayer. The sexton’s voice was still in my
mind as he told us how this was the third time that Reg Lovett had been shot
down and how the distressed Hurricane fighter plane, was guided away from
the town of Stock, in Essex, when its pilot might have bailed out. Instead it
crashed into the field in which I now stood. In avoiding the town he had paid
the highest price anyone can make. He was just 26 and although it all took
place sixty two years ago, in those desperate days when Britain fought for its
survival, it somehow seemed so much nearer standing in that field.

John Lovett

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.