9:05am Friday 12th March 2010
RE: The deaths of Robert William Harding, 91, and
Lucian Ercolani, 92, both reported in our February 19 edition. Both were Wellington pilots for the RAF in the Second World War. Mr Harding, a former Royal Grammar School pupil, who wrote a book about his experiences as a prisoner of war, went on to become a headteacher. Mr Ercolani ran the Ercol factory in High Wycombe for many years.
IT WAS poignant to read of the passing of two World War heroes in the February 19 edition of the BFP.
I knew Bob Harding just a little, but enough to regard him as one of the most pleasant and amiable of men that one could ever wish to meet.
I wonder if there are any others of us left who remember him. He actually began school at St Bernard’s Convent, then opposite The Rye, with the likes of Freddie Secker, Bert Lee and Jan Lord.
Like so many others, he went cheerily to war and probably this innate cheeriness helped him to survive his wanderings in the Western Desert after his plane had crashed. And then the callous treatment he received at the hands of his Italian captors – his book Copper Wire told all about this.
He was a brilliant rugby player and went into the game with his usual cheeriness but it could be deceptive and fool you. He played for Saracens, the grammar school old boys club before it went onto become the town club.
I wonder if we shall ever see the like of Bob and Lucian Ercolani again.
D H Butler, Shelley Road, High Wycombe.
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