'Mystery man' who died at Lossiemouth in WWII named as Lye father

Born and raised in Lye, Lorraine Johnson’s grandfather, Leslie Attwood, worked on the RAF Lossiemouth base in Scotland as a civilian sheet metal worker.

He was killed in an explosion on the base in October 1942, aged 34, leaving behind his wife, Annie and four children.

However, being a civilian, his death was never honoured, and he was only known officially as “unknown civilian”, much to the sadness of his family.

Leslie Attwood was killed in an explosion on the RAF Lossiemouth base in 1942 during WWII (Image: Lorraine Johnson)

Ms Johnson said: “My father always attends remembrance services and has lamented that his father’s name was not honoured with all those that have died for King and Country.

“I set out to connect my father to his past and discovered that Lossiemouth has a heritage base.

“I reached out to them, providing the details I had, hoping that they could assist me with records and information.

“It really was a shot in the dark that has concluded with a wonderful response.”

Ms Johnson’s father, 86-year-old retired teacher Geoffrey Attwood, was just four when his father died and has always been saddened that his loss has not been recognised.

Lorraine Johnson with her dad, Geoffrey Attwood (Image: Lorraine Johnson)

Much to her surprise and delight, Ms Johnson heard back from a sergeant at the heritage base, who said the case of the “unknown civilian” had been “one of the longest running mysteries” he had been trying to solve.

He said: “Wartime records are very poor when it comes to recording anyone other than officers or airmen aircrew.

“As a result, no names had been attached to this incident previously.

“This has left me with a problem, as I have been trying to compile a roll of honour for the Station since 2017 – no one has attempted to do this previously.

"I have therefore only been able to list that an ‘unknown civilian’ was involved.”

The sergeant continued: “I didn’t think that I would ever know the name of my mystery civilian.

“I’m sure that it was a devastating loss for your family at the time, and the fact that his loss has not been recognised to me is wrong.”

Leslie was only ever officially known as "unknown civilian" on Lossiemouth records, but has now been named, over 80 years on from his death (Image: Lorraine Johnson)

Ms Johnson has now had confirmation that the official records relating to the incident have been updated to name her grandad as having died at Lossiemouth for the first time.

Now living in Hagley, Ms Johnson said all her family, including her father's only surviving sister, Barbara, all continue to live locally and, for the first time, were able to honour Leslie at his hometown’s Remembrance service this year.

She said: “I was really moved – it gave me goosebumps just to know that someone else cared enough to want to give the 'unknown civilian' a name!”

For the first time, Leslie's family were able to lay a wreath in honour of him at the Remembrance service in his hometown of Lye (Image: Lorraine Johnson)

Ms Johnson continued: “For the first time in 80 years, my father was able to lay a poppy wreath at the memorial in Lye outside the Church and, on the evening, Jill Berry dedicated a portion of the Remembrance Service at The Bethel Chapel to my grandfather with members of the family in attendance.”

Next spring, the family are planning to go to Lossiemouth to visit the heritage base so they can see for themselves Leslie’s name on the roll of honour and to witness that he is no longer ‘unknown’. 

Ms Johnson is also hoping to have her grandfather honoured locally, hoping to eventually get his name added to the memorial in Lye.