| Quote
from Robert Hellier:
"As
a child growing up, my father used to go every couple of months
or so to see 'Mr Hobbs'. This mysterious man, whom I never met,
lived not far away from my family in Cyncoed an area that was then
on the outskirts of Cardiff. He was a diabetic and may have been
a widower by then too. My mother used to bake him a special fruit
cake for my Dad to take with him. It was many years before I learned
that the reason my Dad went to visit Mr Hobbs was because his son,
Viv, was my Dads friend and had been killed in the war. My father
continued to visit Mr Hobbs Snr right up until his death, I think,
in the late 1970's.
When
my own father passed away in February 2001 my sisters and I discovered
amongst his personal effects the RAF Flight Log Book, service medals
and ribbons of F/Sgt VG Hobbs. Clearly Mr Hobbs Snr had bequeathed
these items to my father. My father was a quiet man and had never
indicated that he had them, nor talked about his friendship with
Viv Hobbs. We also found four photographs, three black & white
and one in colour. One, in portrait style, we assume to be of F/Sgt
Hobbs in RAF uniform and the other three are photographs of his
war grave in the Reichswald Forest War Grave cemetery in Germany.
In the colour photograph, which appears to be dated 1972, Mr Hobbs
Snr is standing by his son’s grave.
The
RAF Log Book clearly shows all of the flights made by VG Hobbs in
training and later in action with 582 Squadron. The first and last
pages of the book are franked in red ‘Killed on Active Service’.
The
service medals and accompanying ribbons are contained in the original
very small cardboard box with a condolence message from the Air
Ministry. These had been sent to Mr & Mrs Hobbs at their Cardiff
home. Mr Hobbs continued to live at this address, I believe, until
his death." |
