William Stanley Moss (Copyright Estate of William Stanley Moss )

I do hope that you have enjoyed the series of articles about the kidnap 80 years ago. A lot of work went into them, mostly from Chris White, but also Gabriella and Hugh Bullock.

The blog is rarely used for fundraising, but I do want to ask you all to consider making a donation to the fund setup in Billy Moss’s memory which awards two annual prizes at the University of Crete. These are funded mostly by the small income from royalties from Billy’s books and other work. The annual William Stanley Moss awards are open to graduate students of the Faculty of Philosophy studying the subjects of Philology, History and Archaeology.

Gabriella Bullock is one of Billy’s daughters and has written to me recently this about the award:

I was very nervous at the inaugural prize-giving ceremony, that my father would be falsely presented as a sort of pure white hero for my benefit. But I need not have worried: the Dean gave an unforgettably philosophical speech, about war and atonement and redemption, and the time-honoured use, since Classical times, of acts of atonement or commemoration.

The prizes are now in their eleventh year – and we feel we have acquired another, academic, family! Every year in my speech, lest they forget, I repeat that the prizes exist to honour the Cretans in my father’s name. They are the only means I have to salute them, to give something back on his behalf, and to express my gratitude and admiration.

The very first prize-winner in 2014 was a young woman who grew up listening to her grandfather’s stories – he had been involved in the kidnap operation; she entered the competition in his memory. Last year, one of the winners told me that he had entered the year before, but had not won. This time he had won, and he was so pleased. He said that the prize was a real motivation to produce excellent work. This was lovely to hear – hopefully it is truly a legacy.

As time passes, I sometimes wonder about the future of this blog. I have broadly achieved what I set out to do fourteen years ago which was to pull together as much information as I could about Paddy and his friends (which includes SOE colleagues). There are now over 1,100 articles, nearly 2,000 photographs, and numerous links to videos etc. I shall complete the task, but I feel that I need a renewed purpose. An extra spur.

I have thought about this and if I may, dear readers, I would like to move onto the next phase by dedicating this site jointly to the memory of both Paddy and Billy. To that end I think it would be marvellous if we could all pull our credit and debit cards to make a donation to the fund in memory of Major William Stanley Moss, and all those brave people of Crete who fought and died to remove the German Nazi terror from their island. Perhaps it may also mark a way of saying thank you for the blog itself. If we can raise just a few thousand pounds we will keep the William Stanley Moss awards going for some years yet.

Gabriella will be very grateful if you can make a donation by PayPal by following this link.

I will ensure that we update you on the funds raised over the next month or so.

Thank you in anticipation.

Once more. To donate via Paypal, click here.