Lt. Cotton receives a brief mention in the book "Home Guarding". In the words of Colonel Cartwright on P.18: "Cotton... left us for the R.A.F., and never returned from an operational flight over the Bay of Biscay."

Ivor and his brother Eugene, the sons and only children of Arthur and Ethel Cotton, had been educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall. Arthur Cotton was the organist and choirmaster at St. Michael's Church, Pelsall (right). At some stage in the late 1930s, the brothers had joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, an organisation which enabled its members, often ex-grammar school boys, to receive flying and other training in their spare time and thus provided a nucleus of trained personnel in the event of war.

Ivor, a resident of Rushall and married, was an early member of the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion, South Staffordshire Home Guard. He is listed as a full lieutenant at 1st February 1941 and was a member of "G" Coy., Rushall. It is not known whether his brother was also a member.

At some point Ivor left the Home Guard to serve in the RAF in the capacity of navigator/observer. Late summer 1943 found him at Predannack, Cornwall, as a 39-year-old Flight Sergeant and a member of 307 "City of Lvov" Squadron, a mainly Polish unit. The squadron was at that time part of Coastal Command and equipped with Mosquito Mk VI aircraft (left). Their main duty was to conduct "Instep Patrols" where a flight of three or four of the squadron's aircraft, each with a crew of two, would fly a low level course to the south, of up to five hours duration, with the aim of seeking out and engaging long-range Luftwaffe fighters.

On September 25th 1943 Ivor and his pilot, F/Sgt. L.J. Lowndes, were one of a four aircraft flight on such a patrol, led by Sqdn. Ldr. Jerzy Damsz (pictured right), when they encountered eight Junkers 88 fighters. In the ensuing engagement their Mosquito was hit by returned fire. The other three aircraft, all with Polish crews, returned safely to base, claiming two Ju88s destroyed, one probable and two damaged. Cotton and Lowndes failed to return. Post-war intelligence revealed that of the eight Ju88s, only one returned home safely.

Ivor Cotton and his pilot have no known grave. They are commemorated at the RAF Runnymede Memorial.

Thousands of miles away from the grieving family, Flying Officer Eugene Cotton of 684 Squadron R.A.F. was at that time flying photo reconnaissance missions over great swathes of South East Asia - Malaya, Burma and Siam. He too was almost certainly flying Mosquitos. On December 10th 1943, just ten weeks after his brother's loss, Eugene and his fellow crewman, most probably F/Sgt. R.E. Woods, failed to return from a mission.

Just like Ivor, Eugene and his comrade have no known graves. Their names are now commemorated on the Singapore Memorial.

(Webmaster's note:
Perhaps we should pause, just for a moment, in the pursuit of our comfortable 21st century lives, to remember Ivor and Eugene Cotton and reflect on the sacrifices, almost impossible to imagine today, which were made by families such as theirs in the cause of freedom and justice.)

(Sources to whom acknowledgement is gratefully made: Reg. Neville; Wilhelm Ratuszynski and his excellent 307 Sqdn. Website ; the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, and others).