KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE BATH
MILITARY CROSS
War & Victory - LIEUT. L.DARVALL. R.A.F.
I.G.S. (Waziristan 1925) - F/O. L.DARVALL R.A.F.
1939-1945 Star
Pacific Star (Burma Clasp)
France & Germany Star
Defence Medal
War Medal (M.I.D.) AM Brooke-Popham AOC (R.A.F. FAR EAST)
Coronation Medal 1953. With Recipient's Coronation Invitation Programme Westminster Abbey, 2nd June 1953.
[BIOGRAPHY] Born on 24th November 1898, Lawrence 'Johnny' DARVALL the second son of Richard Thomas Darvall, late of Gordon Lodge, Reading, was one of those very rare & incredible men who's path of life and sheer effort took them from the very bottom to the very pinnacle of the armed services.
Retiring as an Air Marshall RAF in the 1950's he had been educated at Dover College and at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He started his military career as a 2/Lt in the Yorkshire Regt (Green Howards) in 1916 where in 1917 he gained a Military Cross during the Great War.
He was then seconded in 1917 to the Royal Flying Corps in Macedonia and in 1921 gained a permanent commission as a Flying Officer (Pilot) in the Royal Air Force. In 1923 he married Alleen, daughter of E. Mahony, J.P. County Cork, Ireland. After flying training at RAF Cranwell he began serving as a qualified pilot on 19 Feb 1924:
[PINK'S PRIVATE WAR, WAZIRISTAN 1925] During his first operational posting which was in 1925 with No.20 Squadron, he served at Karachi. A flight from No.20 was then attached to No.5 Squadron, based at Kohat, and it was from here & from Tank that he flew Bristol Fighters in Waziristan. This was under the overall command of the infamous W/Cdr Richard C.M. Pink, who during what became known as "Pink's Private War" successfully prosecuted the very first totally aerial 'non-army' campaign in history against the Waziri tribesmen on the North West Frontier in what are now the hills of Pakistan. It was during this action that he qualified for the rare & illusive I.G.S. with WAZIRISTAN 1925 clasp of which 254 were awarded in total with under 35 to officers.
In 1941 he undertook a survey of bases in the Philippines being very critical in his findings, particularly in relation to the dispersal of aircraft.
[OPERATION OVERLORD]
On D-Day, 6th June 1944, he flew as second pilot in one the lead aircraft.
Then, in May 1945 he he took the initial surrender of the German Airforce at Fornebu, Oslo, from German Luftwaffe General Kosch, who after a Nazi salute is seen in a Pathe newsreel, (which is linked below) attempting to shake hands with Air Commodore Darvall, who declines the hand shake.
Huge crowds welcome British troops on their arrival in Oslo.
[YOU TUBE LINK TO WARTIME FILM]
http://youtu.be/ctYOjoGf2sk.
[AIR COMMODORE DARVALL TAKING THE LUFTWAFFE SURRENDER IN OSLO, NORWAY, MAY 1945 ]
On arrival, the occupants of the RAF Dakota had gathered around Air Commodore Darvall MC. His white hair and moustache and his bearing indicated his Military Cross and wings had been earned in the First World War.
Journalist Alexander Clifford of the Daily Mail was translating for the Air Commodore and the airfield commandant. Apart from journalists the party included photographers, a prince of Denmark and another senior RAF officer, Air Commodore Brackley.
They had already “been first” into another country and seemed to be collecting credits like bird watchers or train spotters. The presence of the prince provided the incentive, if not an excuse, for the Danish flag to be falling through Norwegian air space. When I gained the attention of Air Commodore Brackley he agreed that the bedraggled ex-prisoners could have a ride back to the UK and he gave me the news that my brother Jack had been awarded the George Medal.
Two German pilots joined the crowd. In grey uniforms, they could have been young men in the RAF. One spoke to me in English and it was weird to remember that, only yesterday, we were obliged to kill each other. Rhetorically and unhappily he asked, “What is to become of us?”
The Luftwaffe General Kosch arrived from Oslo with his chief of staff who was tall: literally head and shoulders above his boss. Together they stepped up to Air Commodore Darvall and gave the Nazi salute but without the redundant “Heil Hitler”. General Kosch although short, was solidly built. He had a dollop for a nose and large ears that were translucent in sunlight. He removed his right glove and offered his hand to Air Commodore Darvall who ignored both the salutes and the proffered hand and stood still and straight like ramrods of earlier wars.
With confrontationist attitudes established, the Luftwaffe General Kosch, with a degree of arrogance, let Air Commodore Darvall know who he felt held the cards. He pointed out we were still technically at war and he could, and might, make the RAF party prisoners.
As things could only become worse at Fornebu no time was lost before the Darvall RAF party was again airborne an on course for Copenhagen. On the climb they passed a flying boat bringing in the official British Government delegation to take the surrender.He died on 17 November 1968 at age 69 (SOLD) 01342-870926