Extraordinary LIVES
MY HUSBAND AUBREY by Sylvia Coles
CAPTAIN Tom Moore reminds me of my husband in his later years — Aubrey had the same compassion and generosity of spirit. He grew up in Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, where his mother owned a haberdashery and wool shop. When World War II started, he and his two siblings joined up. Aubrey trained in Canada in 1942-43 to be a pilot in Bomber Command. His older brother Victor was a wireless and radar operator, and their sister Olive was a driver with the WAAF. After flying more than 30 bombing missions in a Halifax, Aubrey was awarded the DFC for ‘acts of valour, courage and devotion to duty while flying in active operations against the enemy’. It meant a great deal to him, as did the deep friendships he forged with his air crew, who always called him Tommy. They remained lifelong companions, with annual gettogethers in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, near their wartime aerodrome. Sadly, they are all gone now. I met Aubrey in 1948 through my brother Patrick. They were members of the Rover Scouts, the section of The Scout Association
for young adults. Aubrey would arrive at our house on his motorbike to pick up Patrick for meetings of the South-West Herts Scouts group, with its campsite in Lees Wood near Rickmansworth. They had been pals since their childhood days in the Boy Scouts, but I didn’t know Aubrey back then. We married two years later, and in 1952, the year our son Malcolm was born, we bought a semi-detached house in Croxley — for just £2,000! Our second son, Tim, came along in 1954. We loved Croxley. It was a wonderful place to bring up our family. We met most of our friends through the Scouts; they held lovely social events, barbecues and parties. Aubrey remained highly involved, going to meetings and events at least once a week for 20 years. The ethos of the Scouting movement, with its strong emphasis on kindness and helpfulness, coloured his whole attitude to life. Aubrey worked as a draughtsman, mainly at the Rotax aircraft equipment factory at Hemel Hempstead. When he retired at 60, we moved to Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, which we loved, but as we approached our 90s, we decided to move back to Croxley to be near our sons and our two granddaughters. Aubrey is very much missed, but it is a comfort to know that his dear old friends in the Scouts will soon be planting a tree in his memory at Lees Wood. It will mean his name will live on.
AUBREY THOMAS COLES DFC, born November 29, 1922; died March 14, 2019, aged 96.