I've put up a brief site concerning the names from the 1939-45 memorial for Braintree & Bocking. It is basically the names from the CWGC site and what brief details I can so far discover. I have photos from the Braintree Cemeteries of such graves, and others have been offered also. I hope this is of use to someone. Braintree & Bocking WW2 War Memorial
FULLER, ROBERT HARRY Rank: Sergeant Trade: W.Op./Air Gnr. Service No: 934063 Date of Death: 16/09/1942 Age: 21 Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Grave Reference 24. B. 10. CemeteryREICHSWALDFORESTWARCEMETERY Additional Information: Son of Harry and Florence Anna Fuller, of Braintree, Essex. Wellingtons? Died on this date, shot down earlier? Details of the above loss. 16-17 September 1942 25 OTU Wellington III BJ969 'B' Op. Essen Took off from Finningley at 2026 hrs. Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed near Rheine. Crew. Sgt. A F. Rees RAAF. pow Sgt. E A. Hall + Sgt. H W. Crock + Sgt. R H. Fuller + Sgt. J F. Oakley + Source - RAF Bomber Command Losses Vol.3 - W R. Chorley. The Essen raid of 16/17 September 1942 369 aircraft, including aircraft from the training groups. 39 aircraft - 21 Wellingtons, 9 Lancasters, 5 Stirlings, 3 Halifaxes, 1 Whitley - lost, 10.6 per cent of the force. Although much of the bombing was scattered, this was probably the most successful attack on this difficult target. There were 33 large and 80 'medium' fires. 8 industrial and 6 transport premises were hit. The Krupps works were hit by 15 high-explosive bombs and by a crashing bomber loaded with incendiaries. There was much housing damage. In Essen and its immediate surroundings, 47 people were killed and 92 injured. Source - The Bomber Command War Diaries - M. Middlebrook / C. Everitt
Peter that's fantastic! Thanks for that! A raid that sums up something about Bomber Command at that time.
I have further information regarding Wellington BJ969. My father was at 25 OTU, RAF Finningley, in September 1942 and was a friend of Jim Oakley who was also from St. John's, Newfoundland. Later my father became a POW in Stalag VIIIB/344, Lamsdorf, where he befriended Oakley's crewmate and sole survivor of BJ969, Arthur Rees, RAAF, from Norwood, Australia.
Robert Gordon Clark "The Battle; a tank officer remembers", Capt GSC Bishop, 23rd Hussars, page 20: St Manvieu Cemetery:
From Marketgarden.com - Arnhem Roll of Honour Database Interface Cpl. Alfred E. Barker, T-180513 15.45 NL-time. Stirling LJ594 (V8-'N')of 570 Squadron (RAF Station Harwell) flown by Pilot Officer David Balmer made an emergency landing after it was hit by Flak prior to reaching the re-supply Drop Zone area west of Arnhem. Five men of the 10 men crew (inclusive 2 passengers) bailed out in time, the others stayed in the aircraft when it was too low to jump. The pilot made a good but heavy crash-landing. Only 2 crew members were captured by the Germans, 7 were able to escape with help of the Dutch underground movement. Corporal Barker was the only one who was seriously wounded and was taken to Roosendaal hospital by friendly Dutchmen. Here Corporal Barker died of wounds. They also have a photo of his headstone in Roosendaal-Nispen General Cemetery, Netherlands.
