John Druce Sayer (29 October 1920 – 27 October 2013) was an English first-class cricketer and an officer in both the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. Serving in the Fleet Air Arm during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Sayer took part in mining operations against German-occupied

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

ports, as well flying anti-

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

missions during the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

. Following an injury sustained during an accident, Sayer transferred to the naval branch in 1947. He continued to serve in the Royal Navy until 1970, undertaking various duties during that time. He also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for the Combined Services cricket team.

Early life and WWII

Sayer was born at Hong Kong. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into the ...

, before enlisting in the

as part of the

. He served during the

in 811 Squadron, flying Fairey Swordfish in mining and torpedo operations against German occupied ports in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. He was based firstly at

RNAS Lee-on-Solent Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus'') was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and ad ...

, before moving to

RAF Thorney Island Royal Air Force Thorney Island or more simply RAF Thorney Island is a former Royal Air Force station located on Thorney Island, West Sussex, England, west of Chichester and east of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Station history The airfield was bu ...

. He later served aboard in November 1942, from which he flew anti-

missions during the

, with Sayer piloting

Vought Chesapeake The Vought SB2U Vindicator is an American carrier-based dive bomber developed for the United States Navy in the 1930s, the first monoplane in this role. Vindicators still remained in service at the time of the Battle of Midway, but by 1943, all h ...

dive bombers in 1943. Later in 1943, he undertook duties as an air gunnery officer, which lasted until 1945. Shortly after the war, he served aboard in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

aboard the light aircraft carrier , flying the Fairey Firefly.

Naval branch and later life

Sayer transferred to the naval branch in 1947, after being injured bailing out of a Seafire. He was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in July 1947, with seniority antedated to June 1942. He served aboard an anti-submarine frigate in 1948, before being appointed as an instructor with the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

in 1950. In that same year he was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

in June 1950. He made his debut in

for the Combined Services cricket team in 1950, against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

. He played first-class cricket for the Combined Services until 1952, making four appearances. Across his four first-class matches, he scored a total of 81 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 11.57, with a high score of 49. With his slow left-arm orthodox bowling, Sayers took 7 wickets at 39.14 runs apiece, with best figures of 4 for 38. In 1953, he served aboard and the newly refitted . In that same year he took part in amphibious exercises in Mediterranean, under the direction of

Lord Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

. He was promoted to the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in December 1957. He was based at

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in 1962, where he played cricket against players from the

Australia cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

. Sayers was appointed to the personnel department in 1962, commanding a barracks in Singapore between 1962–67. He was appointed as a naval attaché to Thailand from 1967–70, where he advised the Royal Thai Navy and oversaw their purchase of a Royal Navy frigate. During this period he was also appointed to the

RAF Staff College, Bracknell The RAF Staff College at Bracknell was a Royal Air Force staff college active for most of the second half of the 20th century. Its role was the training of staff officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of air force matters. I ...

. He was made an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1970 Birthday Honours The 1970 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments to orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms to reward and highlight citizens' good works, on the occasion of the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. They were announced in supplemen ...

, retiring from the navy in October of that year. Following retirement, he became a senior schools liaison officer for the navy, a position he retired from in 1980. He retired to Easterton in Wiltshire, where he coached cricket at the nearby Dauntsey's School and played club cricket for Wiltshire Queries Cricket Club, later serving as the club's vice-president. He died at Easterton in October 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sayer, John 1920 births 2013 deaths Hong Kong emigrants to the United Kingdom People educated at Shrewsbury School Royal Navy officers of World War II Fleet Air Arm aviators English cricketers Combined Services cricketers Members of the Order of the British Empire Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II British expatriates in Hong Kong