Battle of Britain medal mystery solved

Warbirds Association planes fly over the museum. Photo / Dean Purcell

The Royal New Zealand Air Force Association and the Air Training Corps held a parade and commemorative service at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum to mark Battle of Britain Day on Sunday at 11am with a flypast of Warbirds Assocation planes from Ardmore Aerodrome. Officially, the campaign is remembered on September 15, but the parade and flypast are held on the closest Sunday to that date.

127 New Zealanders were officially recorded as part of the more than 3,000 air crew members who fought in the Battle of Britain in 1940, where the Royal Air Force (RAF) successfully repelled large-scale air attacks by the Luftwaffe (German air force) over a period of four months.

83 years later, that number has now grown to 128 after Sir Keith Park was officially recognised as having fought in defence of the British Isles during that most important and famous campaign.

Image 1 of 10: The Battle of Britain parade is held on 15 September or closest Sunday every year.

Dilip Sarkar (MBE FRHistS), a British historian and author, investigated how Park has been recognised in a piece published on the Auckland War Memorial website.

Sarkar had noticed on a recent visit to the museum that among medals and effects of Sir Keith on display in the museum was the “coveted Battle of Britain clasp to the 1939-45 star, and the rosette denoting same appeared on his uniform’s medal ribbons”.

The medal is reserved for a fabled few who fought in the Battle of Britain and were the subject of one of Winston Churchill’s most famous speeches.

“The gratitude of every home in our island, in our empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” Churchill said in a radio broadcast on August 20, 1940.

The few of Churchill’s speech were officially recognised with a special clasp to their 1939-40 star awarded for serving during the World War II and went to members of 63 RAF squadrons who flew against the Luftwaffe during the period from July 10 to October 31, 1940.

Park’s name didn’t appear on the list of squadrons but had, nonetheless, had received the clasp reserved for that elite group.

The presence of the clasp despite there being no official record of it being awarded intrigued Sarkar, who was determined to uncover the mystery of why it should feature among Park’s medals.

Sarkar’s research uncovered that Park flew his Hurricane OK1 in a number of sorties against the Germans recorded in his personal flight logs, but never in official records, including on July 10, 1940, the official start date of the battle, with him writing “Lympne. Convoy. West Malling” when flying out of the station RAF Northolt, and two days later, he recorded having flown his plane “to Kenley to meet PM and escort back to Northolt”.

Sir Keith Park beside the OK1 Hurricane he flew in the Battle of Britain during World War II.

Sarkar wrote to the authorities to clear up the discrepancy and received notice on July 6 this year that the records would be amended to include Sir Kieth Park among the few.

Sarkar quotes Sir Keith’s great-nephews Stephen and Brian Park as saying: “We are, of course, delighted that our old Uncle Keith has now been formally acknowledged as being one of the few. While we appreciate that recognition of his vital role during the Battle of Britain secures his place in history anyway, that wasn’t always a certain thing. So, we are very grateful to Dilip Sarkar for alerting the Air Historical Branch to the evidence of why he qualified as one of the few. We think this matters. When those of us who knew Keith Park personally are no longer around, all that’s left of certainty is his record of service, which speaks for itself to future generations.”

A replica of Sir Keith Park's Hurricane at Motat. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Gail Romano, an associate curator of war history at Auckland War Memorial Museum, told Sarkar, “We have never questioned the validity of Sir Keith Park’s Battle of Britain clasp and were surprised when Dilip asked about the provenance. His medal array is as received, since it isn’t museum practice to modify medals which come into the collection and, having knowledge of Sir Keith’s World War II significance, we saw no reason to question the clasp...”

“Life consistently shows how easy it is to overlook such people. I’m very glad Dilip realised Sir Keith wasn’t officially recognised as one of ‘the few’ and took on the project to have that omission corrected. He has achieved justice for a man who deserves the respect of official acknowledgement.”

Read the full account of Dilip Sarkar’s work to uncover the medal mystery at: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/keith-park?fbclid=IwAR35pqNHjCbaCwfLhsu_LGz8d8eR3pAAlHKlDwrwx2ajb9emo2fZ42uykcA.