Five Shirburnians have been awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for gallantry in action. Their names are commemorated on the plaque at the entrance to the School chapel.
During the Second World War one Victoria Cross was awarded to a Shirburnian, Abbey House’s Lieutenant Jack Grayburn, who was killed in action at Arnhem on 20 September 1944 during Operation Market Garden when his platoon was tasked to seize and hold the bridge over the Rhine.
Jack was awarded a posthumous VC, one of five VC’s awarded for Operation Market Garden.
Following news that Jack had been awarded a VC his mother wrote to one of Jack’s teachers at Sherborne School thanking him for his letter of sympathy and congratulations, saying:
‘I shall keep your letter & show little John when he is older, for I think it will help him to realise that Arnhem was no flash in the pan, as you put it, but the result of a very fine character. Our loss is very great, Jack was a wonderful son, always trying to help his parents in every way he could think of. We shall miss him terribly, but I’m grateful that he has not come back to us with injuries that would mean a life of pain & inactivity. Better far that the loss & sorrow is ours, than that he should suffer so.’
Find out more about Jack Grayburn’s story: Lieutenant J.H. Grayburn VC: Sherborne’s A Bridge Too Far hero
Visit Sherborne School Archive News for more stories from the archives.
Posted 19 September 2024 by Sherborne School Archives.