Bepton war hero is remembered

And at a special service in St Mary’s Church, the Bishop of Chichester, the Right Rev John Hind, dedicated the memorial, a board listing the names of all the parish priests of Bepton from 1401 to the present day.

The names have been expertly painted by two calligraphers, Susan Hufton and Sally-Mae Joseph, who both teach at West Dean College.

The board is in memory of Michael St John who died aged 93 on January 23 last year. He and his wife lived in Bepton and he was a churchwarden at St Mary’s for more than 40 years.

The board was paid for from donations made in his memory.

Commander St John was involved in a dramatic operation on the island of Rhodes when his submarine landed part of a Special Boat Service (SBS) section raiding German airfields in September 1942. He returned a fortnight later to rescue its two survivors.

His Traveller submarine spent the intervening period off the Libyan coast, where he sank the 1,245-ton Italian merchant ship Albachiara, before returning to find the Greek island’s hills and shoreline thick with enemy troops.

He remained submerged until he was surprised to see the recognition signal flashed from the shore.

He was expecting the men to return in collapsible canoes, and was astonished to hear shouting from the darkness. Two naked figures were then hauled from the water – Major ‘Dinky’ Sutherland and Marine John Duggan, who had been hunted, hungry and thirsty, for several days.

The episode was relived in the l953 film They Who Dare, with Dirk Bogarde playing Sutherland and Harold Siddons playing Commander St John.

He was later awarded a DSC for bravery and skill in attacking German warships.