Book honouring heroes of WWII published

A BOOK honouring more than 250 service personnel from the Henley area who lost their lives during the Second World War has been published and will be distributed to schools and libraries in the area.

Amateur historian Mike Willoughby and his wife Lesley, from Woodcote, spent five years writing Bringing Them Home Too, which they researched by reading old censuses and reports in back issues of the Henley Standard.

The book is a sequel to Mr Willoughby’s 2014 work Bringing Them Home, which commemorated 298 local men who lost their lives in the First World War.

Mr Willoughby said: “Since 2007, I’ve been researching soldiers from Henley and the local villages. This book is a natural follow up of the first. It is a work in progress and I keep making changes to it.

“Relatives of the men I wrote about are still contacting me with new information and pictures but, because of covid, I haven’t been able to meet them yet.

Mrs Willoughby said: “The project is still ongoing. When you are dealing with history, the work never really ends. There’s always changes and new information to add.”

Mr Willoughby, a retired heating engineer, started researching and writing this sequel with help from his wife before he completed the first book but initially hadn’t intended to publish a second volume.

The book is dedicated to Brian Hughes, who was the standard bearer for the Henley and Peppard branch of the Royal British Legion for more than 20 years and died last year, aged 86.

The town council financed the publication of the book, which has been available online since November last year.

Mayor Ken Arlett said: “Mike has brought history back to Henley. We just want to say a big thank you to Mike for what he has done. He has spent an extraordinary amount of time on research and he has done it for this town and its history.”

Henley town councillor Stefan Gawrysiak said: “Mike has done a fantastic job tracing the lives of these men, a huge thank you from Henley to him and Lesley who worked as a team on this project.”

Mr and Mrs Willoughby said that they hope someone will continue the project to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 2045.

Mrs Willoughby said: “Obviously we are not going to be around by then, and we hope someone will take it on and add more to it.”

Mr Willoughby added: “Every single man in our memorials has been remembered in this book, as well as around 50 who were never included in local memorials, but there is more to be added.”

For more information, visit www.henley-lestweforget.co.uk