Reginald Van Toen - Revision history

Smeeds: University

2026-09-17T23:18:05Z

University

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:18, 18 September 2026
Line 27:		Line 27:
	\| ethnicity = <!-- Ethnicity should be supported with a citation from a reliable source -->		\| ethnicity = <!-- Ethnicity should be supported with a citation from a reliable source -->
	\| citizenship =		\| citizenship =
	\| education = [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936)		\| education = [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936); [[Wikipedia:University of Nottingham\|University College, Nottingham]]
	\| alma_mater =		\| alma_mater =
	\| occupation = Wireless Operator		\| occupation = Wireless Operator
Line 79:		Line 79:
	}}		}}

	'''Flt Lt Reginald "Van" Van Toen''' was educated at [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936).		'''Flt Lt Reginald "Van" Van Toen''' was educated at [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936) and [[Wikipedia:University of Nottingham\|University College, Nottingham]] where he received a BA Degree (University of London) with Second Class Honours in Mathematics.

	== Prisoner of War ==		== Prisoner of War ==

Smeeds at 10:10, 16 February 2023

2023-02-16T10:10:18Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:10, 16 February 2023
Line 121:		Line 121:
	[[Category:Obituaries]]		[[Category:Obituaries]]
	[[Category:1930s]]		[[Category:1930s]]
	[[Category:Chess]]		[[Category:Chess Club]]
	[[Category:See Also]]		[[Category:See Also]]
	[[Category:Prizes]]		[[Category:Prizes]]

Smeeds at 10:08, 16 February 2023

2023-02-16T10:08:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:08, 16 February 2023
Line 121:		Line 121:
	[[Category:Obituaries]]		[[Category:Obituaries]]
	[[Category:1930s]]		[[Category:1930s]]
			[[Category:Chess]]
	[[Category:See Also]]		[[Category:See Also]]
	[[Category:Prizes]]		[[Category:Prizes]]

Smeeds: /* References */Added prizes category

2020-12-16T16:03:31Z

References: Added prizes category

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:03, 16 December 2020
Line 122:		Line 122:
	[[Category:1930s]]		[[Category:1930s]]
	[[Category:See Also]]		[[Category:See Also]]
			[[Category:Prizes]]

Smeeds: /* References */

2020-11-21T14:52:28Z

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:52, 21 November 2020
Line 121:		Line 121:
	[[Category:Obituaries]]		[[Category:Obituaries]]
	[[Category:1930s]]		[[Category:1930s]]
			[[Category:See Also]]

Smeeds: Obituary

2020-04-23T16:24:11Z

Obituary

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:24, 23 April 2020
Line 10:		Line 10:
	\| caption =		\| caption =
	\| birth_name =		\| birth_name =
	\| birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date and age\|YYYY\|MM\|DD}} -->		\| birth_date = c1920 <!-- {{Birth date and age\|YYYY\|MM\|DD}} -->
	\| birth_place =		\| birth_place =
	\| disappeared_date = <!-- {{Disappeared date and age\|YYYY\|MM\|DD\|YYYY\|MM\|DD}} (disappeared date then birth date) -->		\| disappeared_date = <!-- {{Disappeared date and age\|YYYY\|MM\|DD\|YYYY\|MM\|DD}} (disappeared date then birth date) -->
	\| disappeared_place =		\| disappeared_place =
	\| disappeared_status =		\| disappeared_status =
	\| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age\|YYYY\|MM\|DD\|YYYY\|MM\|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->		\| death_date = 2 October 2003 (aged 83)<!-- {{Death date and age\|YYYY\|MM\|DD\|YYYY\|MM\|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
	\| death_place =		\| death_place = [[Wikipedia:Sidmouth\|Sidmouth]]
	\| death_cause =		\| death_cause =
	\| body_discovered =		\| body_discovered =
Line 29:		Line 29:
	\| education = [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936)		\| education = [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936)
	\| alma_mater =		\| alma_mater =
	\| occupation =		\| occupation = Wireless Operator
	\| years_active =		\| years_active =
	\| employer =		\| employer = RAF
	\| organization =		\| organization =
	\| agent =		\| agent =
Line 58:		Line 58:
	\| criminal_penalty =		\| criminal_penalty =
	\| criminal_status =		\| criminal_status =
	\| spouse =		\| spouse = Janet
	\| partner =		\| partner =
	\| children =		\| children = Brett
	\| parents =		\| parents =
	\| relatives =		\| relatives = One older brother
	\| callsign =		\| callsign =
	\| awards =		\| awards =
Line 107:		Line 107:
	''From the Autumn/Winter 2003 issue of [[The Old Bostonian]]''		''From the Autumn/Winter 2003 issue of [[The Old Bostonian]]''

	~~<To be completed>~~		Reginald Van Toen died on 2nd Oct 2003 at [[Wikipedia:Sidmouth\|Sidmouth]], aged 83. He leaves Janet, his wife of 57 years, and his son Brett. A funeral service was held at [[Wikipedia:Exeter\|Exeter]] Crematorium, St Peter's Chapel on Monday 13th October.

			The younger of two sons of a newsagent on Horncastle Road, at BGS Reginald was a chess champion, gained the Northern Universities Higher School Certificate, and won the Mathematics prize.

			He left the school in 1936 to join the RAF where he trained as a Wireless Operator. In 1942, while still in operational training, he was involved in [[Wikipedia:Bombing of Cologne in World War II#First 1,000 bomber raid\|the first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne]]. In order to achieve the required number of bombers, all available aircraft from [[Wikipedia:RAF Training Command\|Training Command]] were used.

			Unfortunately Reginald's crew was shot down and he spent the rest of the war as a [[Wikipedia:Prisoner of war\|POW]] in [[Wikipedia:Stalag Luft III\|Stalag Luft III]]; the scene of "[[Wikipedia:Stalag Luft III#The "Great Escape" (1944)\|The Great Escape]]" and "[[Wikipedia:The Wooden Horse\|The Wooden Horse]]" escape.

	== References ==		== References ==

Smeeds: First Version

2020-04-15T22:54:08Z

First Version

New page

{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Flt Lt
| name = Reginald "Van" Van Toen
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = 
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 
| birth_place =
| disappeared_date = 
| disappeared_place =
| disappeared_status =
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| body_discovered =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| monuments =
| residence =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| ethnicity = 
| citizenship =
| education = [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936)
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| employer =
| organization =
| agent =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| style =
| influences =
| influenced =
| home_town =
| salary =
| net_worth = 
| height = 
| weight = 
| television =
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| movement =
| opponents =
| boards =
| religion = 
| denomination = 
| criminal_charge = 
| criminal_penalty =
| criminal_status =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| parents =
| relatives =
| callsign =
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| signature_size =
| module =
| module2 =
| module3 =
| module4 =
| module5 =
| module6 =
| website = 
| footnotes =
| box_width =
}}

'''Flt Lt Reginald "Van" Van Toen''' was educated at [[Boston Grammar School]] (?-1936).

== Prisoner of War ==

''The following piece was written by [[Jack Birbeck]] and appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2003 issue of [[The Old Bostonian]]''

<Reginald> left school in 1936 to join the RAF as a boy entrant. Later, in my last year at BGS, the 5th Form were taken on a visit to [[Wikipedia:RAF Cranwell|RAF Cranwell]]. There we saw <him> working at a bench in one of the workshops, but because of the prevailing discipline we were unable to have a conversation with him.

The next time I met <him> it was under very different circumstances. In August 1943 I was a member of the crew of a [[Wikipedia:Avro Lancaster|Lancaster]] shot down over Germany (my Skipper was [[Cliff Annis]], another BGS old boy). I became an inmate of the notorious [[Wikipedia:Stalag Luft III|Stalag Luft III]] [[Wikipedia:Prisoner of war|POW]] camp. One day we were dispersing after roll-call when I heard a voice shouting "What are you doing here Birbeck".

I don't know whether <he> was involved in any escape activities. Everything was very "cloak and dagger" and on a need-to-know basis. I think probably the family included the reference to let readers know that he was in that camp. <This refers to the obituary written by Van Toen's family which referred to "The Great Escape">

Stalag Luft III was in a cleared area of pine trees near the town of [[Wikipedia:Żagań|Sagan]] in [[Wikipedia:Silesia|Upper Silesia]] (now in Poland). In 1943 there were three compounds: East, the scene of the [[Wikipedia:The Wooden Horse|Wooden Horse escape]]; Centre compound; and North compound, scene of [[Wikipedia:Stalag Luft III escape|"The Great Escape"]]. I arrived in the North compound in early September 1943 and we new "kriegies" were immediately given a lecture by the senior British officer, mainly on security and escaping.

At that time there were 3 tunnels in progress: Tom, Dick, and Harry. Soon after I arrived the Germans ("goons" to us) found Tom. It turned out to be in the block where I had been allocated a billet, but I had not known about it. Standard practice when the goons found a tunnel was to blow it up. On this occasion they put too much charge in and blew the roof off the hut, which evoked cheers from the assembled mob.

Shortly afterwards Dick was abandoned and all efforts concentrated on Harry. There were two organisations in the camp: X and S. They were headed by Big "X" and Big "S" with a similar organisation in each block. "X", the escape committee, was headed by Sqn. Ldr. [[Wikipedia:Roger Bushell|Roger Bushell]], one of the 50 officers subsequently shot.

Big "S" looked after security and protected our illegal activities from prying eyes. I was on the "Duty Pilot Rota". This involved sitting at the gate and booking the "goons" in and out, but I had no idea where Harry was situated.

The settings in the film were absolutely authentic. Some of the characters were somewhat over egged and the final scene with [[Wikipedia:Steve McQueen|Steve McQueen]] on the motor bike was complete fiction. The book by [[Wikipedia:Paul Brickhill|Paul Brickhill]] is also authentic. Brickhill was in Stalag Luft III.

Early in 1944 a large number of us including known trouble makers were moved to a satellite camp on the other side of Sagan. Included in the officers moved was [[Wikipedia:Wally Floody|Wally Floody]], a Canadian mining engineer in civil life and the man in charge of excavating Harry. I was therefore not in the North compound when the breakout occurred.

== Obituary ==

''From the Autumn/Winter 2003 issue of [[The Old Bostonian]]''

<To be completed>

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Toen, Reginald}}
[[Category:Students]]
[[Category:Obituaries]]
[[Category:1930s]]