St George and Dragon Inn. Wartime Memories.

Wartime joke from P/O Prune

WESTERN MORNING NEWS 26/10/1940

“Sir I ‘aven’t ‘ad a drink for days,” said the tramp to the landlady of the George and Dragon, “ and I ain’t got no money. D’yer think yer could spare me a drop?”
“ Certainly not” replied the landlady.
“ Thank yer” said the tramp and slouched away. But a few moments later he was back again.
“Well, what do you want now?” asked the landlady
“Could I have a few words with George?” said the tramp hopefully.

This joke was written on a card which sat behind the bar during the war years

HOTEL BROCHURE FOR THE ST GEORGE AND DRAGON INN 1938

The night of Saturday 31st August 1940. A dance was in progress at the George and Dragon when an incendiary bomb hit the flat roof of the Inn. It was,however, quickly dealt with

Two photographs of the St George and Dragon Inn’s damaged roof sustained on the 30th September 1942.You can clearly see the imprint of the Hurricane’s wing. The Key Hole bungalows in the background witnessed it all! Tarpaulin covered the roof until it was speedily repaired.

The bar of the St George and Dragon Inn in 1942

The St George and Dragon Inn fireplace in 1942. The snippets of pilots ties lined the walls as well as Bunny Turner’s Battle of Britain painted frieze. 38 Air Sea Rescue donated the two oars that leant against the fireplace.

Harold (Bill) Lobb behind the bar in 1942

Small pieces of ties on display, each with name and address

This is a photo of the St George and Dragon in 1955 and Ailsa told us that the layout was the same as during the war years. We were able to pinpoint the location of a few of the salvaged panels with their original position on the ceiling

From Ailsa’s Autograph Book. Humour helped break the tension

The St George and Dragon Inn in recent times

Warren H Kennet
(War Correspondent)

Warren was born 1902 in England and his family emigrated to America in 1903. He went to work for the Newark Evening News, New Jersey, USA in 1928.
A larger than life character, he asked for permission to go with the 102nd Cavalry Group as a war correspondent overseas to England. Colonel Donald W McGowan told Warren that he would have to wait until full permission was granted. Meanwhile, Warren stowed away on the troop ship helped by servicemen of the 102nd and arrived in England in October 1942. He then began to file regular reports back to the Newark News
Warren landed in Normandy with the 102nd on 8th June 1944 D-Day plus 2. He then travelled to Paris and claimed to be the first American news correspondent in the liberated city. He captured a Kubelwagen(German Scout Car) and rode into Germany having personalized the car by painting “Newark Evening News” on the bumper in Old English script. The newspaper article shown was probably written around August/Sept 1943. Warren retired from the Newark News in 1972 and died in his hometown in 1982.
He is pictured in the photograph on the far left together with American servicemen. Ailsa Lobb is behind the bar on the right next to Gus, a fellow barmaid. The clipped ties along with their name and address tags and the painted mural by Bernard Ward Turner featuring fighter planes over the Devon coastline no longer exist today.

Warren Kennet on the left plus his signature. Ailsa Lobb behind the bar. The air crew ties on fine display as well as the Battle of Britain frieze painted by Bunny Turner .The frieze was apparently moved to the offices of Exeter Flying Club. The whereabouts of the hundreds of ties and the frieze are today unknown. Maybe somewhere.!!!

Lets see if we can look at this photograph more closely.With the help of Jerry Bird,we surmise that these are US Army Calvery personnel probably from the 102nd based in Exter from the 2nd January 1944.

Warren H Kennet’s signature.

Lt Jack Riley US Army Calvery

Perhaps we will find out these service men’s names in the future. We have captured the ghostly signatures

This service man shows his rank as Warrant Officer (Engineer)

A section of the painted frieze by Bunny Turner which lined the walls of the St George and Dragon.

Hundreds of ties cut off by Ailsa with her large dressmakers scissors lined the walls. It was a sudden impulse of Ailsa’s that led to a huge collection of pieces of servicemem’s ties .Each one with the pilot’s name and address and squadron details. None of these survived sadly. Or did they?

Ailsa Loaring with two of the ceiling panels in a sorry state

Peter Lush created a wonderful model of the St George and Dragon bar in 1972. It did not survive

By Tom Harcus Treasurer of the RAFA Exmouth Branch.

In 1996, a Mr Tombs from W E Taylor & Sons (Taylors Paints), Bishops Ct, Clyst St Mary approached me as Secretary of the Royal Air Forces Association, Exmouth Branch to tell me that some pieces of the ceiling which had been saved when the George & Dragon Inn was refurbished in the early 1970s had been found in a store room at the company’s warehouse.
After looking at them, I told the RAFA committee about them and it was agreed that we try to obtain them for the Branch. The daughter of the gentleman who saved them agreed to let us have them– so with the help of my wife I collected and took them to our club. As all the edges of the panels were badly damaged our chairman Bernard Greenaway with the able help of some of the committee members removed the damaged parts which left the panels cloud shaped. A decorative blue edge was added. They were then fixed to the ceiling of our bar and illuminated.
We invited all the people involved in their recovery, Exmouth’s Mayor, a representative from the George & Dragon, the press and senior members of the RAFA to an evening function to view the great work the committee had done. They were later taken down, due to damage being done, although unintentionally, through exposure and by people touching them, and put in our outdoors store room. And there they remained until I was approached by Suzannah Holwell. She can now take up the story.