Arthur Bedford and his wife, Gladys, had one son, Frederick, who was born in 1920. Frederick joined the Fleet Air Arm and was killed on active service over Malta in February 1942. Bedford served through the Second World War without seeing his son's grave. According to the account repeated in the lecture, the Royal Navy found him a berth aboard HMS Newcastle for a visit to Malta in 1949. He visited the grave and died aboard the cruiser that night. The passage shifts from Bedford's naval appointments to the wartime loss within his own family.
Notable Point · 21:02-23:12
Bedford's final visit to his son's grave in Malta
After his Fleet Air Arm son was killed over Malta in 1942, Bedford visited the grave in 1949 and died aboard HMS Newcastle that night.