Thursday 6 June, 2024, marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day. On that day in 1944, tens of Old Emanuels (OEs) took part in the largest amphibious invasion in history to free Western Europe from Nazi domination in a massive military event now referred to as D-Day. This included all areas of the military from ground soldiers, pilots, naval and tactical support, with OEs (850 served during the war) involved in every aspect of the campaign.
Eighty years later we remember the bravery of the only OE to lose his life on that world-changing June day, Private Robert Edwin Fielder (OE1935-41).
The Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. The liberation of Western Europe began as Germany was forced back over the next year. Many of the first footers on the French coast did so via the massive floating constructs called the Mulberry Harbours. These also had an Emanuel connection; many were built by the Wates construction company, three of the family (Allan, Norman, and Ronald) attended the school, with the family often having a member on our governing board.
Robert Fielder came to Emanuel from Holden Street Boy’s School in 1935. A talented musician who played the violin, like many of his generation Robert was also a member of Emanuel’s Officers’ Training Corps (OTC). On leaving school he trained as an accountant before being called up and serving in the Royal Army Service Corps (R.A.S.C.). Robert hoped to continue his training as a Chartered Accountant after the war. The R.A.S.C. was involved in supplying ammunition, equipment, petrol and rations across the various fronts.
By 1943 Robert’s role in the Army changed and he started training with 716 Company. This became part of the 6th Airborne Division, shortly designated for special operations in connection with ‘Operation Overlord’ (the code name for D-Day). It was not until the spring of 1944 that the commanders of the Airborne Division were given the code word ‘Overlord’ and most lower rank soldiers would have been kept in the dark until much nearer the time, although this was too big a military operation to keep secret. Everybody knew a key stage in the war was approaching and Robert referred to it in a letter home as the ‘Second Front’.
Robert was in No. 1 Parachute Platoon 716 Airborne, which jumped with the 5th Parachute Brigade. He passed the required eight jumps just in time to qualify for airborne operations and joined his platoon a couple of days before D-Day. In the early hours of 6 June, his platoon took off in a Stirling aircraft from R.A.F. Keevil, one of 1200 in the initial aerial assault. Their key objective was to support the capture of the Bénouville and Ranville Bridges which crossed the Caen Canal and the River Orne.
As D-Day approached, Robert was aware a huge action was in the final stages of planning, but the precise details of Operation Overlord remained top secret. He wrote to his sister, Margaret, on May 30, 1944:
“By the way, if and when the second front does start, will you please save the morning papers for me for the first fortnight or so and when you write again, please send a couple of Penguin books, not too blood thirsty. We were inspected last week by the King and Queen and Princess Elizabeth…They looked like what I expected, except Princess Elizabeth who was smaller than she seems to be in photographs.”
As Robert descended over Ranville, he suffered the worst possible luck. His parachute caught on telephone wires and as he hung on the wall of the Chateau below, he was shot and killed by German troops. In all likelihood he lost his life before he even touched French soil. A French countess later recovered Robert’s body and covered him with a shroud, an act for which she was later awarded the Croix de Guerre, a French military decoration. Robert was buried in Ranville War Cemetery.
Robert Fielder’s grave with cross
An early photograph of Robert Fielder’s grave
Robert was only nineteen years old when he was killed on this historically significant day. Over the passing years since his death, his family made many visits to his grave and he is also remembered on the Second World War memorial in the school chapel. As the sun sets over Normandy on Thursday 6 June, 2024, this brave young man and his family deserve to be in our thoughts.
Field Marshall Montgomery with Robert Fielder’s mother and sister
Robert’s mother, father and sister in Normandy
Tony Jones, Emanuel School Archivist and Dan Kirmatzis (OE1994 – 2001)