Bernard Lytton Jaeger
Person details
| Forename(s) | Bernard Lytton |
|---|---|
| Surname | Jaeger |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Regiment | RAFVR |
| Age | 36 |
| Death | Missing, presumed killed on operations |
| Place of Death | Western Europe > English Channel |
| Date of Death | 26/07/1944 |
| Year of Entry | 1922 |
| House Letter | A |
| School Notes | Junior Scholar; Modern Languages Scholar |
| Comments |
War record of 96 Squadron http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/96_wwII.html http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/96squadron.cfm |
| Commonwealth War Graves Commission Link | https://www.cwgc.org/find-record... |
| Unit | 96 Squadron |
| Prefect | - |
| Military Decorations | |
| Album Number | 22 |
| Battle | |
| Previous Regiment | |
| Burial or Cemetery | Memorial > Runnymede |
| Citations | |
| Archives | Correspondence file in OR files in Radley Archives |
| Post School | Clare College, Cambridge (Modern Languages Scholar); Schoolmaster at Cranbrook |
| Prep School | |
| Prisoner of War | |
| Radlein Obituary |
November 19 1944. Recorded as missing November 25 1945. Missing, now presumed to have been killed in operations over the English Channel, July 26-27. 1944, Bernard Lytton Jaeger, Sergt., R.A.F.V.R. (Macpherson's, A, I922- 26). Jaeger entered Radley as a Scholar in 1922: he quickly found his place in the School - Warden Fox, in fact, described him in his first report as "already quite an institution." He was on the Modern Side and had as contemporaries, or near contemporaries, such capable linguists as Polglase, the brothers Zacharoff, Witty, Charles Nalder, George Preston, and Martin Redmayne. He gained the School Mod. Lang. Scholarship in 1925 and 1926, and. also in 1926, he was awarded an Open Scholarship (French and German) at Clare College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he was placed in the Second Class in both Parts of the Mod. Lang. Tripos. He left school, he came down from Cambridge, a man in an unusual degree liked and admired, a man of promise, promise later fulfilled with splendid amplitude. He took up schoolmastering as his profession, and, as his manner was when he took a thing up, whole-heartedly. Once more he found the needed school and at Cranbrook spent eleven years (1931-42) happy and making others happy, a true conqueror of the Voltairean type- 'Ce qui font des heureux sont les vrais conquerants.' His Radley friends can still see his slender, active figure, can still recall his quiet, unfailing gaiety, and his equally unfailing friendliness. They may not realise the pursuits that appealed to him in these later days. First, very surely, came the desire to excel in his profession, to become a true teacher, one who makes himself and his subject acceptable, welcome, to the taught. Once more he was an institution, one calling forth the affection, the interest, the admiration, of an entire school. Next to teaching, came perhaps horsemanship. A thing that specially commended Cranbrook to him was the fact that he could ride to school of mornings on horseback live under the same roof as his horses, and (like Trollope) diversify his work by following the hounds. The War came. He chose to resign his mastership to join the R.A.F., and he succeeded, though over age, in being accepted for an air crew. He qualified as a Navigator and was put on operations with a night-fighter squadron of Mosquitoes. He spent three months in defending the Kent he loved against flying bombs. He was brought down in the last week of July, 1944. He knew what he was choosing and what the end might be. He never flinched. He greeted the last and greatest Unseen with the cheer that to him was habitual and second nature. He rode his horse even up to the gates of Heaven. |
| Service Number | 1801636 |
| Place of Birth |
