Today, 8 May 2025, is the 80th anniversary of VE Day and, along with the rest of the nation, Glamorgan County Cricket Club is reflecting upon the contribution of the Club’s players – both amateur and professional - to the victory in Europe during the Second World War. (writes Andrew Hignell)
Shortly after the end of the 1939 season, the Club’s captain Maurice Turnbull had joined the Welsh Guards and swiftly rose to the rank of Major. Wicket-keeper Haydn Davies, all-rounders Emrys Davies and Closs Jones, plus Gilbert Parkhouse, John Riches, Arthur Joseph and Ernie Harris all served in the Army. All-rounder Allan Watkins was serving in the Royal Navy whilst bowler Leslie Harris joined the Royal Engineers. Aubrey Edwards joined the Welch Regiment and Arthur Porter became a military policeman at Newport Docks.
Batters Willie Jones and Phil Clift, as well as bowlers Austin Matthews, Peter Judge, Maurice Robinson, Ted Glover, Eric Whitman, Fred Roberts and Len Muncer all joined the Royal Air Force whilst all-rounders Wilf Wooller and Viv Jenkins served with a Heavy Anti-Aircraft Command in South Wales, before Wilf was posted to the Far East. Hugh Griffiths and Tony Duncan also served with the Welsh Guards, whilst spinner Johnnie Clay, plus Gwynn Evans, Jack Rhys and James Linton all served with the Royal Artillery
Roy Gabe-Jones, who had played for Glamorgan at the age of fifteen in 1922, served with the Eighth Army in North Africa and survived the Battle of El Alamein. Freddie Mathias, Jimmy Jones, Bob Haines and Jimmy Eaglestone were all members of the Home Guard.
Legendary bowlers Jack Mercer and Frank Ryan were also employed in the Intelligence Corps at Bletchley Corps, with Jack’s linguistic skills also seeing him subsequently become Commandant of an internment camp in Northern Ireland for groups of Prisoners of War and other displaced nationals from Eastern Europe.
A number of Glamorgan cricketers were also involved in D-Day on 6 June 1944 and the subsequent advance through Normandy. Batter John Madden-Gaskell was involved in the planning and preparations ahead of Operation Overlord, whilst fellow batter Hugh Vaughan-Thomas helped to design the assault vehicles and other landing craft.
Jim Pleass of Cardiff CC who later became a member of Glamorgan’s Championship-winning team under Wilf Wooller in 1948, also went across the English Channel on 6 June as a signaller and pilot of the landing craft.
Maurice Turnbull crossed the Channel a fortnight after D-Day as part of Operation Overlord, but during August, he tragically died during the skirmishes associated with the advance by the Welsh Guards through Normandy as part of the Liberation of Europe.
You can read more about Maurice’s outstanding sporting career and his death near the town of Montchamp by clicking here and here.
Glamorgan’s Chief Executive Dan Cherry commented, “it is important for us today here at Glamorgan County Cricket Club to remember all of those who served during the Second World War. In particular Maurice Turnbull, who was the Club’s captain at the outbreak of War in 1939, and to mark his broader contribution to cricket and other sports in Wales.
“We reflect on the fact that Maurice gave his life for King and Country during the Normandy Invasion in August 1944, so never returned to these shores to take part in the celebrations on this day eighty years ago and subsequently build further on his magnificent achievements both on and off the field for the Club, and Welsh cricket in general during the 1930s.”
You can also watch a video tribute to Maurice, led by the Club’s former Chief Executive Hugh Morris by clicking here