the Eulogy

My name is Geoff Gardner and I am a friend of the family.  This is the eulogy for John. 

It is my regret and I sincerely believe my loss that I only knew John for approximately the past ten years of his life, when the active and productive part of his life was over. There may well be members of this congregation who knew him far better than I did and who probably hold in their minds a wealth of information about him. Accordingly I would request that you overlook any shortcomings in this eulogy.

I make no apologies for having been compelled to plunder a number of sources, including the memories of his family, for information about him and his life. One of the most productive of those sources was the Parish Newsletter of April 1999 which contained what was described as a Parish Profile of John Aylwin.  

Some years ago I lost my brother also John. He was only a couple of years younger than the John we honour.  I had begun to regard John Aylwin as a kind of surrogate big brother and I have been personally most saddened by his death.  Over the past few years I had quite a number of conversations with him particularly about the army. I was joining one infantry regiment as he was leaving another for demobilisation.  Our conversations were certainly enjoyed by me and I like to think that he also enjoyed them.

The dictionary definition of the word eulogy is "a speech or piece of writing that praises someone highly".  From what I knew personally of John and from all that I discovered about him, he is thoroughly deserving of high praise in all areas of his life which was not only long but very full and productive. He was an understated character, reticent about his achievements which I believe were many.

The interviewer who produced the Parish Profile commenced the interview by asking John how long his family had lived hereabouts. "About a thousand years'' answered John with a smile.  There are apparently records of the Aylwin family farming in Sussex as long ago as 700 AD and later they were mentioned in the Domesday Book commissioned by William the Conqueror in the 11th Century.  

Thomas John Talbot Aylwin to give him his full name was born on the first of March 1917 into a farming family at Slindon and later lived at Walberton Farm with his younger brother Gordon before moving to Sidlesham.  In 1926 he became a boarder at Christ's Hospital School where he developed a love of rugby. He was always proud of the fact that Gordon's son Richard also attended the same school and in fact became Head Boy. After leaving school he trained for four years in the animal feeds production business with Bartholomews at Chichester and played rugby for the city team. In 1938 he moved to Newport Pagnell as manager of a new provender mill. While there he played for Olney Town and Northampton.  

His promising career, like that of so many of his contemporaries, was interrupted by the war and in 1940 he volunteered for the Army.  He didn't fancy a career afloat in the Royal Navy, the RAF was oversubscribed and he was too big for tanks, he explained, so he opted for the infantry. 

After officer training at Aldershot, he was commissioned into the Royal Sussex Regiment to become transport officer at Chichester Barracks. This job took him to Goodwood, Cowdray Park and in his own words "to many other Sussex meetings'' In 1941 he married Bridget Eames who was then a lecturer at Bishop Otter College after taking a degree in horticulture at Reading University.  Over the next few years his son David was born followed by daughter Susan.  In 1944 he transferred to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

When the D Day landings took place Lt. John Aylwin was in command of a unit of 197 men and 6 officers of a specialist transport unit.  On D Day plus one he and his unit were ordered to a naval barracks at Portsmouth where they were fed and watered and then embarked on an American Liberty ship crewed by the Royal Navy.  They set sail in the afternoon and after a smooth crossing (unlike the previous day) they lay off the French coast all night.

On D Day plus two, at around 10 am, his unit, plus a hundred or so other troops, was transferred from the Liberty Ship to a tank landing craft. Because of a sandbank the craft could not get closer to the beach than a couple of hundred yards.  The ramp was lowered and they were ordered into the water, wading chest deep to the shore.  The noise was horrendous with aircraft overhead giving cover and the navy bombarding positions inland to support the invasion force.  There were casualties all around.  Once on the beach the military police were directing the unit to a cleared route through the minefields marked by white tapes.  One of the group stepped outside the tapes and was killed by a mine. 

The unit moved forward into the village of Cuerselles sur Mer and on to the open ground beyond the village taking over already dug fox holes.  On opening his sealed orders it was discovered that the unit had been disembarked on the wrong beach! It was supposed to be on Juno beach further along the coast thus rendering the orders useless.

At the end of June, after what seemed like an eternity, battalions from various regiments arrived and all John's men were dispersed to their original units.  John returned to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.  His battalion battled its way from Caen, taking part in the battle for that town and for hill 112 (since renamed Cornwall Hill) which is recorded as one of the fiercest battles of the war.  John's regiment suffered 320 casualties in a single day, including 29 of his 34 brother officers as they were bombarded by German tanks and artillery.

They battled their way east to Falaise and then to Cleves and beyond, again taking heavy losses.  They fought across France, into Belgium to Brussels and then to Arnhem in Holland as part of the operation code named "Market Garden".  His battalion was part of the 43rd Infantry Division which struggled through floods and enemy bombardments in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the beleagured airborne force which had been dropped to take the bridge to prevent the enemy from destroying it.

At this point it must be recorded that John himself narrowly escaped death or at least serious injury when an enemy bullet passed through the petrol tank of the motorcycle he was riding at the time.  He ended the war as a captain, carrying out guard duties at the   1945 Belsen concentration camp trials before repatriation and demobilisation.

John returned to civilian life, farming with Bridget's father until he retired in 1959.  During this period John and Bridget's third child Daphne was born.  He then moved to Manor Farm, South Mundham.  It must have been in recognition of his stewardship that his landlords, the Church Commissioners, added to the farm with the eventual inclusion of North Honer and Bowley Farms, bringing John's total acreage up to 555 in all.

He was successful in farm and crop competitions at national and international level and served with several NFU committees during these years.  During his farming career he helped many students by giving them experience of farm work on his farms.  Even his children and nephew worked on the farm especially at harvest time and they had to keep a note of the hours worked so that they could be paid like everyone else.   John retired from farming in 1983 after suffering a serious accident while snow ploughing in North Mundham.  

John's record of public service both before and since retirement was exemplary and outstanding.

He was chairman of the Apuldram Parish Meeting during the fifties before joining North Mundham Parish Council in 1962 becoming its chairman from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1998.  He was a founder member of the Playing Fields Committee, a Trustee and then President. He was a member of North Mundham Parochial Church Council and sidesman at St. Stephen's from 1961. He was also chairman of the North Mundham Gala Committee and founder member of the La Lucerne French exchange scheme.  He was a member of the Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve Committee.

Bridget and John celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1991. Bridget was herself churchwarden at St. Stephen's church from 1986 until her death in 1993. John has always supported the church and helped provide facilities for the benefit of all.

Sadly with John's death we have seen the last of the his branch of the Aylwin family farming in this part of the world.  However his son David continues the tradition albeit on the other side of the world in New South Wales, Australia.  David is married with four children.  Daughter Susan lectures at University College Cork.  The second daughter Daphne is a medical secretary who has three children of her own and lives in Wiltshire. John was understandably proud of his children and grandchildren.  

In 1995 John married Elizabeth a Sussex girl born in Middleton into another farming family and for the past few years they have lived in Hermitage Close North Mundham with their dogs Charlie and Oscar.  When he was fit enough to get out and about John enjoyed walking the dogs and visiting the post office/shop (now sadly closed) where he loved to chat to other villagers.

During the final period of his life when he eventually became housebound he was cared for by Liz who herself did not enjoy good health for some time.

I have listed some of the events affecting his life, however, we can obtain a glimpse of what his peers thought of him from a citation written after a success at a World Seed Fair Toronto: 

"These Aylwins are a very modest and unassuming family never much in the limelight, but we do not think there is another family in the British Isles who can beat their wonderful and continuous service to the land. They and their kind are the salt of the earth and the backbone of this country"

John Aylwin
1.3.17 - 4.9.07

A lasting legacy,
the playing fields and pavilion being used by the community 
for the 2008 Gala,
raising money for local community projects.