Pilot Officer Andrew Macdonald Paterson

Pilot Officer Paterson, The Auxiliary Air Force, was born on 4th October 1910, and at Loretto from September 1924 to April 1930. He was a Prefect, in the VI Form, XV and Hockey Team, won the Ballantyne Park Swimming Shield, and was C.S.M. of the O.T.C. On gaining his commission he joined the 500th (County of Kent) Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, based in Kent. He was killed on 7th October 1939, while baling out on return from a reconnaissance patrol.

"We were all very much attached to him and we shall miss him a great deal."

Lieutenant Robert Scott Moncrieff Pearson

Lieutenant Pearson, The Royal Engineers, was born on 11th May 1922, and at Loretto from May 1936 to July 1940. He was a House Prefect, in the VI Form, a Prizeman, captain of the Hockey Team, and a Sergeant in the O.T.C. From School he went up to St John`s College, Cambridge, and from October 1940 to March 1941 took a special six months` Royal Engineers course. He was commissioned into the R.E. in October 1941. In June 1942 he sailed with the 51st (Highland) Division for Egypt, and after fighting in the battle of El Alamein was promoted Lieutenant in November of that year. His work consisted mainly of laying minefields under shell fire and then gapping them for our advance; he also had to examine all new types of enemy mines, grenades etc. It was while doing this that he was mortally wounded by the explosion of a grenade on 7th January 1943. He died next day, at Agheila.

"Bob always played his part with zeal and courage, and was always willing and eager to carry out his duty. His example and his training of his men remain to spur us all on to the final victory for which so much must be sacrificed."
"He always made people happier wherever he went."

Captain David Edridge Pinkney

Captain Pinkney, The Royal Artillery, was born on 17th May 1919, and at Loretto from September 1932 to July 1937. He was a House Prefect, in the VI Form, Shooting VIII and Swimming Team, and a Sergeant in the O.T.C. As Second Lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry (T.A.), he was recalled at the outbreak of war from France, where he was on holiday, and stationed in different parts of England, first in Searchlights. Later his unit became R.E. and later still R.A. For a time he served as Instructional Officer in Radio and subsequently as Adjutant in various Battle Schools. Finally, after passing as A.O. Pilot Officer, he took part in the "D" Day landing in France, the breakout from the Bridgehead, the fighting in the Falaise Gap, and the pursuit of the Germans to the Seine. On 1st September 1944, Captain Pinkney, with a comrade, was driving a car into the village of Warloy Baillon (Somme) when they unknowingly approached a party of about fifty German S.S. men who were escaping into a wood. A French civilian at the roadside waved to them to warn them of their danger, but, mistaking this for merely one of the gestures of welcome to which they were accustomed, they drove on. As soon as Pinkney perceived the enemy, "with," in the words of the eye-witness, "an indescribable manoeuvre," he skilfully pulled up the car and enabled his companion to jump out and escape. Before, however, he himself could do so he was killed by a machine-gun bullet. He was buried in the British cemetery at Warloy Baillon by the Director of the Hospice-Hospital there - the Frenchman who had tried to warn them in the road.

"What a marvellous chap he was! His personal charm was quite extraordinary.... David to my way of thinking was the best example of a young Englishman I have yet met."