Eighty years on from the beginning of the Second World War it is easy to forget that, for a time, democracy, the rule of law and even everyday values of tolerance and kindness were in danger of being snuffed out in Europe.
Given the sacrifices made, we must not forget the people who fought to protect these virtues - particularly those who laid down their lives for this cause. To this end, all Fourth Form pupils at Brighton College have researched an individual Old Brightonian who died in, or as a result of, the war. The list includes former masters, pupils and one German old boy who was doubtless a good man, but fighting for a bad cause.
What emerges in this book, a companion to a volume on the fallen of the Great War already published, is a collection of extremely varied personal histories. Where possible, this book recalls the family lives of each man in addition to his war service. The quality of research has been high, and pupils have also excelled at storytelling: finding the excitement and humour in each life, as well as the poignancy. The 170 fallen Old Brightonians of the Second World War, nurtured by the College but cut off in their prime, have been honoured by the current crop of Brightonians, several generations below them.
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David Turner is a journalist and historian. The former Education Correspondent for the Financial Times, he has written a history of Britain's independent schools, The Old Boys: The Decline and Rise of the Public School, published by Yale University Press, and Brighton College: A History, published by Third Millennium.
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