LIONEL WILMOT BRABAZON REES, V.C., O.B.E., M.C., A.F.C.

Brabazon Rees was born in Plas Llanwnda, Castle Street, Caernarfon in 1884. He was of a well known family in town and his grandfather, James Rees, was Mayor, firstly in 1856 and again from 1872 – 1874. He was a native of Carmarthen and came to Caernarfon from London in 1831 as foreman printer to the William Potter Co. who first published the radical weekly newspaper, Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald in that year.

Soon the newspaper became very popular and in 1840, William Potter decided to retire and James Rees became the new owner. In 1855, he became instrumental in publishing a sister paper in the Welsh language, Yr Herald Cymraeg and he appointed James Evans of Cae Llenor as editor. James Rees himself retired in 1871 and as none of his children was interested in journalism, James Evans became the new owner.

Lionel Rees’ father was Colonel Charles H. Rees and naturally enough young Lionel chose an army career. He was educated at Eastbourne College and the Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1903 and in 1914 joined the Royal Flying Corps as a Lieutenant.

He soon mastered the art of flying and aerial combat, becoming one of the most successful pilots for shooting down enemy aircraft. Eventually he was promoted Group Captain, having become the most decorated airman of WW1. As well as the highest Military Award, The Victoria Cross, he was also awarded the Air Force Cross and the Military Cross.

In 1919 he was further honoured with the O.B.E. and in 1920 his native town of Caernarfon made him a Freeman of the Borough and presented him with an expensive Ceremonial Sword.

One would expect that by then he would have had his share of honours, but this was not so. He was a member of the Royal Welsh Yacht Club at Porth yr Aur and the owner of a Ketch, Loch Fyne, 12 tonnes named “May”, which was built in Scotland in 1902 and powered by a Kelvin twin cylinder paraffin engine.

In 1933, Brabazon Rees decided  to face a new challenge by attempting a solo crossing of the Atlantic in the “May”, starting from Porth yr Aur. He commenced his journey on July 2^nd and this is what an eye witness of that historical occasion had to say about it.

Richard Trevor Jones, a native of Caernarfon, now living in Canada and aged 96, was 22 years old at the time and sitting on the Quay wall watching Brabazon Rees preparing to set off on the “May” and waiting for the tide. The Mayor and Councillors had come to wish the Group Captain well on his adventurous and dangerous journey and after the handshakes, Brabazon Rees set sail for Caernarfon Bar. Dic Trevor, as he is affectionately called by all his friends in Caernarfon, stayed at Porth yr Aur until the “May” slowly disappeared from sight.

This voyage was completed on October 21^st 1933, the “May” having reached Nassau in the Bahamas after 2 months and 20 days at sea and this feat brought world wide recognition to Brabazon Rees. When the Cruising Club of America learned of what he had accomplished it was decided to present him with the “Blue Water Medal”. This was an exceptional honour as only one medal is awarded by the club in any one year.

Unlike Dic Trevor, who crossed the Atlantic 50 times to visit his home town, Brabazon Rees did not return to Caernarfon. He settled in the Bahamas and married a local girl and on September 28.1955, he died there.

However, he presented his “Blue Water Medal” to his old Yacht Club at Porth yr Aur and there it can be seen today. It is the Club’s most priceless treasure.

So far we have only dwelled on a short family history and the military and civil achievements of this remarkable man. No amount of research into Census Returns, Parish Records or even, in this case, Who’s Who can enlighten us on the kind of person he really was and here we are extremely fortunate in that a Welsh historian from the old county of Caernarfon has written a book called “Against the Odds”, which is a biography of Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees. Alistair Williams of Bridge Books, Wrexham, has succeeded in obtaining information from several witnesses from his early childhood at Caernarfon and those who served with him in both World Wars as well as the recollections of his eldest son, Allen, who was only 7 years old at the time of his father’s death.

It would appear that both Lionel and his younger sister, Muriel, had a happy childhood in Caernarfon. They were very close and she is said to have adored her brother. As a ten year old, according to the testimony of a boy of his own age, his favourite pastime was flying his kite on the Quay and he had a larger and far better kite than any of his compatriots, who were envious of his remarkable skill and control of the kite. One wonders whether this was the beginning of his passion for aircraft, which later developed with Bleriot’s crossing of the Channel in 1909.

As regard to his education, he took a keen interest in his studies and excelled in sports and athletics. He could be described as an industrious student, both at Boarding School and the Military Academy at Woolwich. Out of a total of 83 cadets he was 16^th in his final examinations, which meant he could have been commissioned into any of the Regiments, but he chose the Royal Garrison Artillery. From an early age his only choice of career was a Military one.

While serving in the Middle East in the first decade of the 20^th century, he became interested in both theology and archaeology and later became quite an authority on these subjects.

From 1933 until WW11 broke out, Lionel spent much time enjoying himself in his boat sailing to the many islands in the Bahamas. However, by 1940 and with the fall of France and other European countries, he felt obliged, although in his middle 50’s, to once again offer his services to his country and at the beginning of 1941, he rejoined the RAF as a Wing Commander and after only 4 days in the U.K. he was posted to command a new aerodrome in the Middle East, where he had spent a long period in the army prior to WW1.

When the first batch of young aircrew officers arrived at the station there were no billets for them and they were issued with tents. One young officer was having great difficulty in raising his tent and the C.O. came along and said to him “There is a way to raise a tent in the desert, my boy”, and immediately set about the task himself. That is an example of true leadership – to lead by example.

Just when he had finished raising the tent, the wind blew his cap off and the young officer ran off and retrieved it for him. The Wing Commander then turned to him and said “You have learned two things today, my boy, one on how to erect a tent in the desert and the second is should your cap be blown off, some bloody fool will chase after it for you”.

Yes! He, also, had a sense of humour.

In December 1942, Lionel was invalided out of the RAF and returned to his home in the Bahamas. In 1947, aged 62, he met and married a young local girl and they had three children, prior to his death in 1955.

When, in 1953, it was realized that he was suffering from leukaemia, he was admitted to RAF Hospital Uxbridge in the U.K. There he received treatment designed to delay the inevitable and unable to make the journey to Caernarfon, he wrote to the Mayor and Corporation stating that he knew that his condition was terminal and added the following regarding times when he had met with difficulties and to quote:

“When things have been really bad, I have often said to myself, what would a Freeman of Caernarfon do about this? The answer has come to me that a Freeman of Caernarfon would just get on with the job. This I have done and the difficulties have disappeared”.

Good advice to us all, don’t you think?