Tom Burgoyne's War Record

Thomas Burgoyne was born on the 16th of September 1920 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He lived with his parents and three sisters in a flat in a tenement building in the south of the city, leaving school at the age of 14 to become a butcher's apprentice.

When war was declared in September 1939, he aspired to become a pilot in the RAF. However, this was not to be as a medical examination revealed him to be colour blind! At the age of 19, he enlisted at RAF Padgate in Cheshire. We know he was stationed in 1941 at RAF Cranage, also in Cheshire, which was set up in August 1939 as a training station and aircraft maintenance unit.

As far as we know, he served as a ground wireless operator for most of the war. His service number was 1100970, and he maintained his knowledge of Morse Code throughout the rest of his life.

Although he may not have seen active service, he fulfilled an important role in the service of his country. We know that he was popular and made many friends from around the world. He kept the menu card for Christmas Day lunches in 1940 and 1941: it looks like the commanding officer and officers made sure that the men and women were well looked after at Christmas! These cards are covered in signatures and addresses of fellow servicemen and women.

Although peace was declared in May 1945, he continued to serve in the RAF for some time after that. He was sent on at least two missions to decommission British aeroplanes which had been abandoned in Europe for one reason or another, more than likely as a result of crashes. We know that he was sent to Burdofass in the north of Norway. There are some photographs of him with other servicemen in the snow. Even coming from Scotland, he would never have experienced such cold weather. It looks like they also found a wreck of at least one German plane with its Swastika still intact.

He was also sent to Lyons in France for more decommissioning work and possibly visited Paris at this time also - befriending a French family. He obviously really enjoyed his time in these countries as he kept many photographs and picture postcards of scenes around the cities.

Although the war was a difficult time for the world, it certainly offered him opportunities to travel and to meet new people outside of his rather restricted life in Edinburgh. After his discharge, he returned home, where he found it difficult to get a job at first as employers had filled the vacant job positions during the war. However, he did eventually return to his previous employment and went on to live a full and peaceful life until the grand old age of 91!