“My Dad’s War” – Robert Anderson’s scanned Wartime Log – Page 57

Image of page. 57 from the Wartime Log scanned by Bill Anderson

William Draper, 578 Clifton Road, Hilton, Aberdeen, Scotland – Battle – Repat., Jan/44

NOTES: Aircraftsman 1st Class W. Draper, W/OP Air Gunner with the 105 Squadron based in Villeneuve-les-Vertus, took off in Fairey Battle L5585 GB-P on May 14 1940, Mission Sedan.  The aircraft crashed behind enemy lines and Draper was repatriated on February 2, 1945 on the SS Letitia.

See 

http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=L5585&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact and Archive Report

See

http://www.aircrewremembered.com/sammels-harold-courtenay.html

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Robert P. Quebedo, 50-47 39th Place, Long Island City, New York – Liberator

NOTE: Robert P. Quebedo, 94, of Weeki Wachee, FL passed away peacefully on Monday September23rd, 2019.  He served in the U.S. Army during WWII and was a POW when his B24 Liberator he was flying in was shot down and he was captured and held for over 2 years.  He was also held in Isolation for over 3 months before being released into the holding camp and building a tunnel to escape his captors.

(See https://www.gracefuneralhomehudson.com/obituaries/Robert-Quebedo/#!/Obituary for full Obituary).

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A. Slimmon, 1254 12TH St., Brandon, Man. – Halifax

NOTES: Halifax NA516 QO-A of the 432 Squadron took off June 16 1944 from East Moor, Mission Sterkrade and was shot down from 18,000 feet by a night fighter approaching the Dutch coast, crashing at Almen (Gelderland) south of the Twenthe Kanaal 7 km. WSW of Lochem.  The Pilot and 2 Air Gunners were killed and are buried in Gorssel General Cemetery.  F/O Jim Slimmon (J25049, POW #6308) and three other crew members became POWs.  Slimmon is mentioned several times in Dad’s letters home from Stalag Luft III.

See http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=NA516&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact

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Ronald L. Leverington, 98 Grosvenor Street, Kearsley, nr Bolton – C/O 4 Dorset Terrace, Green Lane, Church Street, Walmer, Kent, England – Halifax

NOTES: Air Gunner Sergeant R.L. Leverington (1254416) and Fl/Eng. Sgt. Donald Eugene Leslie (628603) of 102 Squadron RAFVR took off in Halifax LW143 DY-O on June 28 1944 to bomb the railway yards at Blainville, France.  LW143 was shot down over the Gisors Gournay-en-Bray area of France on June 29 and was claimed by the Commander of II.NJG2 Major Paul Semrau (night fighter ace with over 39 kills to his credit by the time of his death by FI/Lt Sleep from 402 Squadron in a Spitfire on February 8 1945).  Pilot F/Sgt. Nigel Douglas Campbell (AUS/426744 RAAF) 21, Air Bomber P/O Jack Wilson (J90298 RCAF) 22 and W/O Fl/Sgt. Noel Albert Pardon (AUS/419221 RAAF) 20 were killed.  Leverington, Leslie and 2 other crew members became POWs.  Leverington became POW #8012 and Leslie POW #8101.

For details see 

http://www.aircrewremembered.com/campbell-nigel.html

https://everything.explained.today/Allied_airmen_at_Buchenwald_concentration_camp

states the following:

Leverington was originally sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Buchenwald #78382 and recalled “They (SS guards) ripped off all our clothes and put us in what I thought was a gas chamber.  We came out alive but we were given just potato peels to eat.  The prisoners already there were in a terrible state, starving to death and being worked to death. They had to work on no rations so they just died”.  Although they did not have to work, the airmen at Buchenwald, originally 180 of them, thought this would be their fate.  Beaten up at Gestapo headquarters in Paris, Leverington and other RAF men were transported to Buchenwald where the beatings continued, with SS guards kicking weaker prisoners to death.  Then in late October 1944, news of the captive airmen at a concentration camp got through to Luftwaffe officers.  For them, such treatment of fellow airmen, even enemy ones, was seen to be wrong.  German officers then turned up at Buchenwald to organize the transfer of Allied airmen to Stalag Luft III.  Leverington survived the war and was featured in the TV documentary “Bomber Boys”.  Sergeant Donald Eugene Leslie, Stalag Luft III POW #8101 and Buchenwald # 78404, spent 2 months in Buchenwald before being transferred to Stalag Luft III where he spent 10 months.  An interview with him was used in the 2 hour docudrama “Shot from the Sky”.  Leslie passed away December 31, 2017 at the age of 96.

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Donald E. Leslie, 2073 East Seventh Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. Canada – Halifax

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Roland Laframboise, 2955 Cote Ste. Catherine, Montreal PQ, Canada – Halifax

NOTES: Sergeant Joseph Edouard Charles Roland Laframboise (R202087) took off on April 22 1944 from Skipton-on-Swales in Halifax LV840 BM-E of 433 Squadron on Mission Dusseldorf.  The aircraft was hit by flak and almost immediately attacked by a night fighter, crashing in Germany.  Pilot John Arthur Bourgeault (J/89284) was killed and is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery.  One crewmember evaded and the remainder became POWs.  The RCAF Prisoners Of War Association indicates P/O J.E.C.R. Laframboise J89116, POW #4197.

See http://www.aircrewremembered.com/AlliedLossesIncidents/?q=LV840&qand=&exc1=&exc2=&search_only=&search_type=exact

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C.D. Jago, Easington Hull, Yorkshire, or “Woodstock”, Gills Cliff Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight – 22.9.40 – Swordfish

NOTES: 

C.D. Jago, Temporary Acting Leading Airman, Service #R8093, Air Gunner, 825 Squadron Royal Navy, HMS Furious, Swordfish Serial #L7586.  The following is taken from the Aviation Safety Network:

HMS Carrier Furious, stationed off the Norwegian coast, launched an attack on shipping in the Trondheim area on the 22nd September 1940, comprised of 6 Blackburn Skuas and 12 Fairey Swordfish aircraft.  Due to inclement weather they were unable to locate the target and 12 aircraft returned safely to HMS Furious but 1 Blackburn Skua and 5 Fairey Swordfish got lost and were forced to carry out emergency landings, three in Norway, two in Sweden and one at sea.  Low on fuel, Swordfish L7656 “G5-C” was forced to make an emergency landing at Leka Island on the Norwegian coast, 115 miles north of Trondheim.  The three aircrew, Pilot, Sub Lieutenant Hugh Noel Crawford Hearn; Observer Sub Lieutenant H. Alan Cheatham; and Air Gunner C. D. Jago, became prisoners of war for the duration.  

Source: aviation-safety.net

Jago was a roommate of Dad’s in Stalag Luft III and signed the “Christmas ’44 Sagan Germany” Card

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Thomas Orr, 886 South St., Scotstown, Glasgow, Scotland – Captured June 12 1940