Bradford Reynolds

An Honor to Serve Bradford Reynolds

Book One: An Honor to ServeCunninghams emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand's Canterbury Plains in the 19th Century; we take up the Cunningham family story with Royston Cunningham, a grandson, in 1912. A summer job mustering sheep and cattle for the Glenfalloch Station on the Arrowsmith Range of New Zealand's Southern Alps pitches Royston's heart into the arms of Elizabeth Hunter-Price, daughter of the Station owner. Elizabeth finagles many visits to the Heights and they have a dynamic and romantic relationship through two summers. When students together at Canterbury University, with Royston reading the new course of Mechanical Engineering and Elizabeth among female students, admitted for the first time in 1913; Royston meet Allison, Elizabeth's cousin. Elizabeth and Royston are among an excited crowd welcoming an Army Bleriot aeroplane to Christchurch. Royston asks many questions of the pilot, and receives an invitation to join the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, a territorial unit and Royston signs-on in the hope he may one day be a pilot; he receives a commission as a Second Lieutenant They marry in 1914 and Elizabeth gives up her studies when she becomes pregnant. Before the birth, the Government calls up Territorials for active duty as war spreads through Europe. After training, Royston leads a Scout Company and ships to Egypt to patrol the Sinai Coast where Scouts intercept a nighttime Turkish landing intending to close the Suez Canal to Empire shipping. Rather than waiting for reinforcements, Royston mounts a cavalry charge against a superior force using surprise to overpower landing soldiers. Celebrated for their success, Cunningham's Scouts put ashore on the Gallipoli Peninsular to mark trails for an Expeditionary Force assault on Turkish gun preventing the Royal Navy from opening a passage through the Dardanelles. Appalled by unnecessary carnage and incompetent leadership on Gallipoli, Royston vows never to describe a battle as glorious again. The experience changes him and he becomes a champion of planning and training to prevent losses while achieving victory. To prepare himself for his scouting role, Royston flies with the Royal Navy Air Service as an observer. He repairs the engine of a second Shorts seaplane; eventually flying as the pilot in place of the Royal Navy pilot returned to sea duty. While scouting for a June offensive, a Turkish mortar wounds Royston sending him to a New Zealand hospital in England. Allison, a Sister at a second New Zealand hospital, visits and Royston falls under her charm; they become lovers. Royston returns to piloting and joins the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 as a defense against being sent to the trenches in France. Just as in Gallipoli, indifferenct leadership and inadequate training leads to horrendous losses of 18-year-old pilots and observers. Royston establishes a training system in defensive maneuvers. Elizabeth resumes her studies leading to a scholarship to study education in England looking for ways to overcome a shortage of teachers with so many men killed and wounded. She makes little progress against bias against women teachers until Royston's Brigade Commander finagles her a teaching position at Eton. Using stories of Royston's escapades in the air as a reward for her students, Elizabeth earns the respect and admiration of Eton and the Education Committee. Her activities lead to the education Act of 1918Royston's reputation and determination to prepare crews for aerial combat precede him; he catches the ear of Trenchard, founder of the Royal Flying Corps and flies and fights until wounded. With Elizabeth, he ships back to New Zealand and in late 1918.