Pilot Peacemaker Priest

RSM Ken Mew DFC, World Methodist Peace Prize

Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) Ken Mew, DFC, and Staff Sergeant C.P. Ashling of the Glider Pilot Regiment sat side by side in the cockpit of their fully loaded Airspeed Horsa Mk II glider at first light on 24 March 1945. Take-off from Earls Colne was scheduled for 07:00 hours, their glider, one of 4 of 1 Wing HQ was towed by a Halifax tug—almost certainly one from No. 296 Squadron RAF, which had been allocated thirty Horsa gliders from ‘B’ Squadron and Wing Headquarters for the forthcoming operation. Unfortunately, the exact tug–glider combinations were not recorded.

Each of the fifteen Headquarters’ gliders—five Horsa Mk I and ten Mk II—carried chalk numbers between 153 and 167 on both sides of the fuselage. The precise loads for each are unlisted, but the consignment assigned to No. 296 Squadron is known to have included 249 troops, sixteen jeeps, twenty trailers, a water trailer, twelve 5-cwt cars, sixteen motorcycles, two field cycles and a pair of 6-pounder guns.

This was Operation Varsity—the largest single-day airborne assault on record. A total of 11700 aircraft, 1300 gliders delivering 21 000 troops to breach the Rhine and finally defeat the Nazis.

The gliders in Mew’s group were bound for Landing Zone ‘R’, near Hamminkeln. The soldiers on board were to seize the town—an important road and rail junction—and secure the approaches on the eastern bank of the Rhine, paving the way for the Allied ground advance into Germany.

Landing the gliders was hazardous. Heavy anti-aircraft fire, coupled with a dense smoke screen laid by British forces on the east bank, combined with the smoke and debris thrown up by the prior Allied bombardment of Wesel, made visibility and navigation extremely difficult. Many gliders came down off-target or in the wrong landing zones and only one in five British gliders landed undamaged.

The British gliders were released at 2 500 feet and as a result suffered more from flak than the American gliders that were released at 650 feet. A corollary to this was RAF tugs suffered fewer losses than their American counterparts.

In later life Ken Mew recalled; ‘our flight path crossed the corner of a wood which later appeared to have been concealing a German 88mm anti-aircraft battery and we received a few hits. A few of the air landing troops were hit, but damage to the glider caused a very steep approach for the last few hundred yards and the aircraft nose went into the earth a bit savagely. As a result, the bulkhead behind the pilot’s seat collapsed, passengers and equipment flung against it, and I was “folded up” head on legs, in the cockpit. I was soon extracted and taken to the Airborne field ambulance. The medical chaps there treated a shrapnel wound in my leg.’ In fact, he had multiple wounds to his thigh and legs and a back injury that bothered him for life.

The Early Years

Smithdown Road in Liverpool served as a pivotal thoroughfare amidst the gritty, dismal, and perilous slums spawned by the Industrial Revolution. It was within this unforgiving environment that Ken Mew came into the world on 9 July 1915 as the fifth child of what would become a family of ten.

Ken’s parents were the ex-Royal Navy serviceman William Mew, a boiler maker, and the gentle Emmaline (Netherton) Mew. Ken was brought up in a small dwelling in a rather chaotic environment. His father was really a rags and bones man who bought and sold items, even selling family furniture to meet the bills and his prodigious need for alcohol. As the children matured, they inevitably found themselves entangled in their father's dubious dealings, whether it was tending to the horse and cart during transactions or facilitating the delivery of coal bags, cunningly depleted of substantial chunks of coal.

At the time, children were sent to ‘suitable schools’, based on their background, not on their talent. Ken came top in the Liverpool scholarship examinations. He wrote that he had not realised ‘that no matter the achievement in the scholarship exams, we were destined to go to a “suitable” school for poorer people.  I had hoped to go to Quarry Bank (QB), a secondary school with its own playing fields on the outskirts of the city, but my socio-economic background was not QB, but TTI (Toxteth Technical Institute), where I eventually took my place after getting top marks out of 3,000 scholarship candidates.’ 

After two years of education and lacking any career guidance, Ken left to seek employment and earn a wage. It was at the height of the Great Depression; Ken found brief employment but faced limited opportunities. On 1 July 1932, he lied about his age and enlisted in the army, joining the Cheshire Regiment at the age of 17. Although life in the army was hard, underpaid and underfed, he excelled at boxing and running.

Following training, he was posted to the Second Battalion of the Regiment at St. George’s Barracks, Malta for three years, and then, as a Corporal, was posted to Palestine, where the British Army was primarily engaged in conflicts with Arab forces opposing Jewish immigration under the British Mandate. Upon the regiment’s return to the UK in 1937, and with his seven-year service contract nearing its end in early 1939, Ken sought employment with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), where he undertook a rather mundane and occasionally hazardous role.

Shortly thereafter, he married Evelyn Shelley, but within days of the declaration of war Ken wrote ‘along with thousands of other reservists, I had been called back to the colours, and we were ready to move when war was declared.  Three days later we were on the way to France as the first part of the British Expeditionary Force.’

‘The 2nd Battalion, the divisional machine gun battalion, was mobilised and joined I Corps and was attached to 1st Division. As documented in numerous histories and films, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was driven to the beaches of Dunkirk by the German Blitzkrieg. Ken was one of the 338,226 men evacuated between 26 May and 4 June 1940. He recalled that ‘there was utter confusion as crowds of refugees struggled along the canal bank.  Four of us were separated from the main body of our unit.  However, we attached ourselves to another unit and learned that the BEF had been instructed to make for the coast at Dunkirk, ready for evacuation.’ 

Pilot

His first child, Gloria Ann was born in 1941 and by the year’s end he had volunteered for service in the newly formed Glider Pilot Regiment GPR). In 1942 he was posted to No. 16 EFTS (Elementary Flying Training School) at Burnaston, Derby. On the course he met Major S. C. ‘Billy’ Griffiths with whom he later flew on operations. On 5 June 1943 Ken progressed to No. 16 Course, 5 GTS (Glider Training School) at Shobdon, Herefordshire. He flew the Hotspur Glider, followed by a Heavy Glider Conversion. As a member of No. 2 Squadron, 2 Battalion GPR, he undertook further training on De Havilland Tiger Moths and Hotspurs at Fargo near Larkhill, Wiltshire and was promoted to Company Sergeant.

In preparation for the liberation of Europe, mass training flights and landings took place, first from RAF Hurn and then RAF Harwell. During this period 2 Bn became 1 Wing GPR. 

Operation Overlord, known as D-Day, was the Allied invasion of Normandy and encompassed all the amphibious and airborne landings that took place on 6 June 1944. An element of Overlord was Operation Tonga, which planned and managed the British 6th Airborne Division landing by parachute and glider just after midnight with the objective of securing the left flank of the invasion area.

General Sir Richard Gale was the overall commander of the airborne forces and was flown into battle by CO of ‘A’ Sqn Major S. C. ‘Billy’ Griffiths, the test cricketer and his co-pilot, SSM Kenneth Mew. As part of the third wave, Griffiths and Mew were towed in a Horsa I, CN 70 (Chalk Number) by an Albemarle of 295 Sqn RAF. Aboard the glider were the two pilots, personnel of the 6th Airborne Division HQ, a Jeep, two despatch motorcycles and the General and 10 troops.

Take-off was at 01.27 and they were released about 1.5 miles southeast of Landing Zone (LZ) ‘N’ on the outskirts of Ranville, France. They landed on a rough field and stopped abruptly when the glider hit a low embankment. The front undercarriage was forced through the floor and as a wing hit an anti-glider stake, it spun the glider around. With the nose embedded in the bank, it proved impossible to swing open the cockpit section and extricate the commander’s Jeep.  The crew and troops onboard formed a defensive perimeter and as the sun came up, General Gale made for Ranville on foot.

Glider pilots on the ground were expected to help unload the aircraft, prepare a defensive position south of the LZ, and clear the area of anti-glider stakes. As the designated commanding officer landed off target Major Griffiths took command of the 52 pilots, who dug in, fought enemy patrols and were targeted by snipers.

By the end of the day, they had accomplished their tasks and on the morning of 7 June, the group of now 93 GPR personnel made their way to the beach landing areas and embarked on landing craft for the return trip to Newhaven.

Once again SSM K. Mew was the co-pilot for Major S. C. Griffiths on 17 September 1944, when as part of ‘A’ Squadron, transporting the Advanced Airborne Corps HQ, they took off at 11.20 from RAF Harwell in Horsa CN407, the tow aircraft a Shorts Stirling of No 295 Squadron RAF. Onboard was General Staff Officer (Grade 1), (GSO 1) Brigadier AG Walch and Captain EW Newbury; Chief of Staff and personal assistant respectively of the commander of Airborne forces Lieutenant-General Browning, who was aboard CN406

This deployment was an element of the disastrous Market Garden operation. Their target was LZ-N south-east of Nijmegen, near Breedweg and the objective was to take control of three bridges at the River Maas, Waal and Rhine, and provide a bridgehead for a major attack into the Ruhr to end the war.

The gliders arrived near the LZ around 14:00, and faced some light to medium anti-aircraft fire, which caused only light damage to a small number of gliders. Two pilots were injured during landing, while those that had carried the HQ set up as a defensive force and later took part in active patrol duties. It is assumed that they returned after 27 September, when it is recorded that most A Squadron pilots were at RAF Harwell.

The London Gazette of 16 August 1945 published the announcement of the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross, to RSM Mew for gallantry in aerial operations against the enemy. This was one of 26 DFCs awarded to the GPR. The citation read:

‘On March 24th 1945 R.S.M. Mew was first pilot on a Horsa glider during the airborne assault across the RHINE North of Wesel. Soon after releasing from the tug aircraft, the glider was severely damaged by enemy A/A fire. At the same time R.S.M. Mew was wounded in the thigh and legs. In spite of the condition of the glider and his own wounds he was determined to reach his allotted landing area. Owing to the smoke screen the visibility was so poor that it was difficult to recognise any landmarks. In spite of these adverse conditions R.S.M. Mew landed in the correct area and enables his load to be got into action immediately. Considering the damage to the glider and his own wounds this W.O. showed skill and determination of the highest order. He has previously taken part in operations NEPTUNE and MARKET and has at all times shown exceptional skill and initiative.’

Ken returned to civilian life and to ICI, as technical representative, but within a short time his marriage failed.

Late for his normal homebound Manchester to Liverpool train, Ken stepped aboard the only relatively empty carriage and sat opposite a young woman. He struck up a conversation which changed his life. A colleague that met Ken at Lime Street Station offered the woman a lift home. The next day Ken drove back to her house, finding the family leaving on holiday. He took them to the station, and there, with a strong sense of certainty, he proposed.

The two were married and in 1948 Ken and Lilian Rice began new lives in South Africa, but soon after they were transferred to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). Ken had been brought up in the Christian tradition, but after he married Lilian, he learnt from her parents the values of being a committed and active Christian.  He helped organise the building of a church in Ndola, and it was there he became a lay preacher. After he was transferred by his employer to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), he sat the exams that qualified him to conduct services. Ken’s sermons would often warn that the continuation of racial division would lead to violence and conflict.

Peacemaker

As was common in all colonies, racial inequalities existed in legislation and in general social practise, mainly to maintain the status quo. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, DSO, OBE, the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS) was also the founder of the Capricorn Africa Society, with its aim to remove racial discrimination and so make best use of all the skills of the people in a country to benefit its people. The Society created some small adult education facilities to encourage understanding and mutual acceptance between the races.

When Sir Robert Tredgold the Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia, a supporter of Capricorn, resigned in protest against a Bill to suppress black nationalist opposition to the Central African Federation, he donated Ranche House to be used for multiracial adult education. Ranche House College was founded in 1961 as a non-racial institution for adult and continuing education. Its establishment during a period of segregation was a significant step toward racial equality in Southern Rhodesia. In 1963 Ken Mew described by Peter Garlake as ‘hyperactive with a quick alert mind and inspirational in the pulpit’ (Hughes) was appointed its principal.

Together Ken and Lilian Mew ran all aspects of the college and courses, while promoting racial equality in a difficult political climate. Ken advocated that western education principles were not suitable to the new world that was emerging in Africa. He believed that local problems needed to be addressed with new ideas not those designed for a different time. Today the website notes ‘Ranche House College stands as one of Zimbabwe's most respected educational institutions.’

Times were hard. Lilian had three young children to look after while running the college administration and organisation. Ken had to continually source donors from around the world to fund the college, develop course materials and source teachers. By 1980, 38000 students had studied at the college, which had a permanent staff of three and had benefitted from the work of 240 volunteer teachers, from around the world.  Ken studied part time and in 1977 he completed a Bachelor of Education. 

The college consumed a great deal of his time, but he found time to campaign and address groups about how he saw the future, what needed to change and how to achieve success. Not part of any political party, Ken felt passionately that a race-based future was fundamentally wrong. He used his position at the College and its success to prove a different way worked. The college was a neutral location and so became an informal place for white and black groups to discuss ideas and even to formulate a draft constitution.

Rhodesia was under increasing armed assault from liberation movements, subjected to all-encompassing United Nations sanctions after its Unilateral Declaration of Independence and a loss of skilled people as emigration soared. There was very little to no acceptance of any political opposition, who were all labelled as communists.

In 1972 the British Pearce Commission proposed a constitutional solution and put this to the nation. Ken was deeply involved with People Against Racial Discrimination (PARD), which lobbied for equality of all. In the end, all options were roundly rejected by the black nationalists and white government.  

In 1974, Ranche House was the setting for a meeting between Ian Smith, the Prime Minister and the leaders of the African nationalist groups to negotiate a ceasefire in the bush war. This led to the Lusaka Agreement, which very quickly collapsed.

Some businessmen asked Ken to meet with the two main nationalist leaders in Zambia and Mozambique. He did manage to meet with Joshua Nkomo in Zambia, but arrangements to visit Robert Mugabe in Mozambique never came to fruition. An earlier visit to meet with Dr Banda of Malawi was refused.

The College was again selected as the venue for internal settlement discussion, which resulted in the short-lived, unrecognised state of ‘Zimbabwe Rhodesia' of 1979.  In April 1980, following a universal suffrage election, Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

At 67, Ken retired from Ranche House College. He had thought there was an opportunity of a government position, but that did not materialise. He was appointed to establish the Glen Forest Training Centre for the African Co-operative Action Trust (ACAT) on the outskirts of Harare. It was a religious-based organisation created to equip rural men and women with practical skills for self-employment and improved livelihoods. Courses covered sustainable agriculture, building & maintenance, garment making, metalwork and other skills they could take back to the rural areas. It became another success and continues to educate people today.

"This is not simply the story of a good man in Africa," the South African Daily Express wrote of him in 1984. "Ken Mew is one of the best. Not a revolutionary of the kind Orwell described as 'just a climber with a bomb in his pocket,' but a genuine champion of peace.’

He was consistent in the fight for equality. When asked in 1977 to select blacks for American scholarships, he declined, saying he would rather allocate the awards based on the relative ethnic ratio, the subject and meeting of the standards of entry. He berated international liberals for their prejudice against whites in Africa while ‘they enjoy a freedom of speech denied them in most of the countries they would have us emulate.’ He wrote to the World Council of Churches criticising them for providing funds to Rhodesian guerrilla groups. Although meant for humanitarian purposes, there was no control, and the money may have been used to purchase arms.

In 1982 Ken was awarded the World Methodist Peace Award. His citation reads,’ As a layperson, chemical engineer Kenneth Mew of Zimbabwe left to become principal of the Ranche House College, formerly Zimbabwe College, during a troubled time in its history. Encouraged by the possibilities of the assignment, the situation turned dark as a new government came to power in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), isolating the country from much of the world. The aims of Ranche House College, under Mew’s leadership, were that confrontation need not be the last word and more constructive forces could play a role in shaping the country’s destiny. Ranche House College, under Mew’s leadership, became a neutral ground for mediation, negotiation and confidential and exploratory talks. His influence was significant in extinguishing fires of hatred. Ranche House became a training center for diplomats.’

The criteria of the award are Courage, Creativity, and Consistency. The courage to face danger and put personal interests at risk, creative initiatives and negotiations for the cause of peace and the awardees efforts have been despite obstacles faced. The Peace award has also been bestowed on the United States President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Mikhail Gorbechev, and former South African President Nelson Mandela, among others

Bibliography

Challiss, R. J.  Education Planning for Zimbabwe: The Problem of Unreliable Historical Perspectives, Zambezia (1979), VII (ii).

Fothergill, R. Laboratory for Peace, Louise Bolze Bulawayo 1984

Hughes, R. Capricorn: David Stirling’s second Africa campaign Radcliffe Press 2003

Mew, K. An Angel for a Shilling, Unpublished

Rhodesian Commentary 20/10;73 Vol7-21

Roscoe, A. The Month A review of Christian Thought and World Affairs 1985 Issue 12 Vol 18

Smith C, The history of the Glider Pilot Regiment, Leo Cooper, London, 1992

Wheale, A.S., Generating and Sustaining Combat Effectiveness: British 6th Airborne Division, 5th November 1942 – 27th August 1944.Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Humanities in the University of Buckingham

Wright, Stephen L. The Last Drop : Operation Varsity, March 24-25, 1945, Mechanicsburg, PA : Stackpole Books, 2008

Charles Aitkenhead – Airborne research