A Duty to Serve: Tonbridge School and the 1939-45 War

This richly illustrated book recalls and commemorates a dangerous and exciting period in the history of Tonbridge School and celebrates the lives of a wartime generation of Tonbridgians, whether still at school or already deeply involved in the war effort. Old Tonbridgians served with great distinction at home and abroad throughout the war, and the book offers inspiring stories of some of the most remarkable, linked to their own time at school, but also set against the vivid context of the day-to-day life of the school itself in those wartime years. Through the book there runs a thread of belonging, of a shared heritage, experience and memory through Tonbridge School. The book is also a journey of reflection about those years, giving insight and understanding to younger generations about the way a school community coped with war and its inevitable consequences, while also paying tribute to a generation who gave their service, and in many cases their lives, and who have now mostly passed on.Themes and topics: The Gate of Remembrance; Skinners' Day 1939; The Skies over Tonbridge; Bomb Disposal; A Dutch scrapbook; Imperial Tonbridgians; Distinction of Service; Playing the Game; Special Operations; Esprit de Corps; Voices of War; Victory in Sight; Roll of Honour