Philip Freeman, Volunteer Firewatcher: Recognizing Jewish Heroism and Honor

By Jerry Klinger

Philip Freeman was too old to enlist in the regular British Armed Forces during World War II. 67. Yet, he felt compelled to do what he could. Freeman or Friedman, his is spelled both ways in records, lived in very modest housing at 131 Magdalan Road in Exeter. He father was Hyman Freeman of Chapelton, Leeds.

Philip Freeman was a patriotic, Jewish Englishman. He volunteered to become a firewatcher. Firewatching was an extremely dangerous and exposed job as the German Airforce were firebombing British cities with a focus on those without any military value. Exeter was selected for saturation bombings in April and in May 1942 specifically to target English cultural and historical centers. The German High Command selected Exeter from cities mentioned in a “Baedeker’s” Travel Guidebook.

The bombings became known as the “Baedeker Raids.”

Freeman’s job was to rush to sites of German bombings and attempt to put out fires, rescuing the living even before Fire Fighters could arrive. The regular Fire Fighting service was stretched thin. Firewatchers were very poorly equipped.

It was imperative to prevent fires from spreading. The job fell to volunteers on the ground, like Freeman, arriving as soon as possible and at the most dangerous moments during and after bombings.

Freeman suffered a heart attack trying to save others. He was taken to a hospital. The fires and terror of the bombings reached the hospital that Freeman had been taken to. The rescuers were unable to evacuate the hospital in full. 18 patients died. Freeman was one.

He was buried in Exeter’s Higher Cemetery in an unmarked grave. Unknown except to God. His only family far away in Leeds.

Martin Sugarman, Archivist for the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, and Director of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation’s U.K. Branch, discovered his unmarked and forgotten gravesite. He arranged through JASHP, to fund a marker of memory to one of the heroes of those terrible nights, during the inhuman Nazi air attacks.

Philip Freeman/Friedman is unknown, forgotten, no longer.

Freeman’s gravestone was installed December 5, 2022.  The site of his interment was difficult to find, there were no grid stones anymore though it was known he was buried in section ZD, number 0250.

His stone is inscribed simply:

(Here Rests – Hebrew Acronym)

In Memory of Philip Freeman/Friedman

Jewish Exeter Wartime Firewatcher

Age 67

Who was killed in the German bombing raid, 4 May, 1942.

Till 2022, his grave was unidentified

Hebrew Acronym

(Samuel, 25:29, “May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”)

Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, U.K. Branch, Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women

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Jerry Klinger is the president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation
www.JASHP.org