The Wartime Memories Project
The Second World War - Day by Day.

Home>Date Index


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site

please consider making a donation.




    Site Home

    WW2 Home

    Add Stories

    WW2 Search

    Library

    Help & FAQs


 WW2 Features

    Airfields

    Allied Army

    Allied Air Forces

    Allied Navy

    Axis Forces

    Home Front

    Battles

    Prisoners of War

    Allied Ships

    Women at War

    Those Who Served

    Day-by-Day

    Library

    The Great War

 Submissions

    Add Stories

    Time Capsule

    TWMP on Facebook



    Childrens Bookshop

 FAQ's

    Help & FAQs

    Glossary

    Volunteering

    Contact us

    News

    Bookshop

    About


Advertisements











World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

15th September 1941

On this day:





If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.




Remembering those who died this day.

  • Marsh Gordon Alfred. L/Bmbdr. (d.15th September 1941)
  • Marsh Gordon Alfred. L/Bmbdr. (d.15th September 1941)
  • Morley Leonard. Rflmn. (d.15th Sep 1941)
  • Ward James Allen. Sgt. (d.15th Sep 1941)
  • Ward James Allen. Sgt. (d.15th Sep 1941)
  • Ward James Allen. Sgt. (d.15th Sep 1941)

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements



  • The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
  • 22nd April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263973 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
  • Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's
  • The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
    If you enjoy this site

    please consider making a donation.


Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.



We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates.

If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.


Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home.

If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.



Want to know more about the 15th of September 1941?


There are:8 items tagged 15th of September 1941 available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.




Stories from 15th September 1941





Sgt. James Allen Ward. VC. Royal New Zealand Air Force, 75 Sqdn. (d.15th Sep 1941)

James Allen Ward served in the 75th Squadron Royal Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force during WW2 and was killed in action on the 15th September 1941. He is buried in Hamburg Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Germany. He was the son of Percy Harold Ward and of Ada May Ward (nee Stokes), of Wanganui, Wellington, New Zealand.

The citation in the London Gazette for 5th August, 1941, gives the following details: On the night of July 7th, 1941, Sgt. Ward was second pilot of a Wellington which, while returning from a raid on Munster, was damaged by cannon shell and incendiary bullets from an attacking Messerschmitt 110. Fire broke out near the starboard engine which, fed by petrol from a split pipe, threatened to spread to the entire wing. Strenuous efforts by the crew failed to extinguish the fire, and they were warned to be ready to abandon the aircraft. Sgt. Ward then volunteered to try and smother the fire with an engine cover which chanced to be in use as a cushion. He got through the narrow astro-hatch and, by breaking the fabric to make hand and foot holds, succeeded in climbing on to, and then along, the wing, to a position behind the engine. Lying precariously there he smothered the fire in the wing fabric, and tried to push the engine cover on to the leaking pipe. It was blown back by the terrific wind, and on the second attempt was lost. Nevertheless, the fabric surrounding the pipe was destroyed, so that the fire could not spread and finally burnt itself out. Sgt. Ward, with assistance from the navigator, was able to struggle back into the aircraft, which eventually reached home and landed safely. The flight back was made possible by Sgt. Wards most conspicuous bravery in extinguishing the fire at the risk of his life.

S Flynn



Sgt. James Allen Ward. VC. Royal New Zealand Air Force, 75(NZ) Sqdn.. (d.15th Sep 1941)

James Ward died on the 15th of Sep 1941,aged 22 and is buried in the Hamburg Cemetery, Ohlsdorf in Germany. He was the son of Percy Harold Ward and of Ada May Ward (nee Stokes), of Wanganui, Wellington, New Zealand.

The citation in the London Gazette for 5th August, 1941, gives the following details: "On the night of July 7th, 1941, Sgt. Ward was second pilot of a Wellington which, while returning from a raid on Munster, was damaged by cannon shell and incendiary bullets from an attacking Messerschmitt 110. Fire broke out near the starboard engine which, fed by petrol from a split pipe, threatened to spread to the entire wing. Strenuous efforts by the crew failed to extinguish the fire, and they were warned to be ready to abandon the aircraft. Sgt. Ward then volunteered to try and smother the fire with an engine cover which chanced to be in use as a cushion. He got through the narrow astro-hatch and, by breaking the fabric to make hand and foot holds, succeeded in climbing on to, and then along, the wing, to a position behind the engine. Lying precariously there he smothered the fire in the wing fabric, and tried to push the engine cover on to the leaking pipe. It was blown back by the terrific wind, and on the second attempt was lost. Nevertheless, the fabric surrounding the pipe was destroyed, so that the fire could not spread and finally burnt itself out. Sgt. Ward, with assistance from the navigator, was able to struggle back into the aircraft, which eventually reached home and landed safely. The flight back was made possible by Sgt. Ward's most conspicuous bravery in extinguishing the fire at the risk of his life."

s flynn



Rflmn. Leonard Morley. British Army, 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps. (d.15th Sep 1941)

My great-uncle Len Morley was killed serving with 1st KRRC in the Western Desert. He was 21 years old. He is buried at Sollum in Egypt, near the Libyan border. His younger brother John was wounded on 7th June 1944 in France but survived the war, despite regular returns to hospital, until he died in 1991.

John Champney



L/Bmbdr. Gordon Alfred Marsh. British Army, 6/3rd Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery . (d.15th September 1941)

Gordon Marsh died onboard a straggler vessel SS Newbury on convoy ON14. Reports state that a number of the 44 on the vessel were observed climbing into lifeboats but during a storm. No other vessel stopped and no traces were found, presumed those that survived the single torpedo drowned at some point in the mid Atlantic. I am keen to contact family of any other crew member.

David Andrews



L/Bmbdr. Gordon Alfred Marsh. Royal Artillery, 6/3rd Maritime Regiment. (d.15th September 1941)

Gordon Marsh was lost on Convoy duty on SS Newbury.











Can you help us to add to our records?

The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?

If so please let us know.

Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




Celebrate your own Family History

Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.



Hosted by:

The Wartime Memories Project Website

is archived for preservation by the British Library





Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved

We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.