8th August 1942
Dennis Leister is deported from Jersey
Dennis Leister, known as John, arrived in Jersey less than six months before the occupation, but didn’t return to the mainland in advance of the Germans’ arrival, having apparently been so intoxicated at the time of the evacuation that he ended up in hospital and missed the boats. His father was German and his mother English.
He was arrested and convicted of theft, and sentenced to six months’ jail, to be served in Europe. After various escape attempts, of varying degrees of success, he joined the German army, married, and fled to Italy as the final battle for Berlin was getting underway. There, he was arrested, taken back to Britain to stand trial and sentenced to three years for assisting the enemy.
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Other events that occured in August
Funeral for a scout killed in Jersey
- A visiting scout was hit by a car at Saint Ouen, and later died in hospital, yet the scouts continued their holiday in Jersey.
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The King of Patagonia invades Minquiers
- French novelist Jean Raspail claimed Minquiers in the name of the king of Patagonia, who by then had been dead for a century.
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The first Battle of Flowers takes place
- Jersey staged its first ever Battle of Flowers in 1902, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria.
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Soldier kills colleague with a scrubbing brush
- When a fight broke out at a Jersey barracks, one of the two men involved ended up being killed, in part by a scrubbing brush.
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