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25th April 1944On this day:
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Remembering those who died this day.
- Carr Ronald Richard. Aircraftman 2nd Class (d.25th April 1944)
- Donoghue Thomas Herbert. Cpl. (d.24th April 1944)
- Harrison Norris Mervyn. Sgt. (d.25th Apr 1944)
- Jameson Andrew. F/Lt. (d.25th April 1944)
- Johnson Robert Irvine. Flight Lieutenant (d.25th April 1944)
- Mortimer Lester Lloyd. F/O. (d.25th April 1944)
- Mullen Thomas. Pte. (d.25th Apr 1944)
- Nichol William Blyth. Spr. (d.25th Apr 1944)
- Robertson John Maxwell. F/Sgt. (d.25th Apr 1944)
- Robertson John Maxwell. F/Sgt. (d.25th Apr 1944)
- Strickley Richard. Pte. (d.25th April 1944)
- Taylor Jack. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1944)
- Tudehope Reginald Joseph. Flight Sergeant
- Waugh Kenneth Robert. F/Lt. (d.25th Apr 1944)
- Young Sydney James Herbert. Flight Sergeant
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
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Want to know more about the 25th of April 1944? There are:27 items tagged 25th of April 1944 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. |
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Stories from 25th April 1944
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Flight Lieutenant Robert Irvine Johnson. RAF, 10 Radio School. (d.25th April 1944) Four men who served at Carew Cheriton and lost their lives were the crew of Anson DJ639, lost at sea on 25 April, 1944. They were on a training mission with No 10 Radio School and did not return. An aircraft was seen to crash into the sea off the coast of Wexford, Ireland. Only the body of AC2 Carr was recovered.
The crew were:
F/Lt Robert Irvine Johnson 118115
F/Sgt Sydney James Herbert Young 424503 RAAF
F/Sgt Reginald Joseph Tudehope 424479 RAAF
AC2 Ronald Richard Carr 3025469Dennis Burke
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Aircraftman 2nd Class Ronald Richard Carr. RAF, No. 10 Radio School. (d.25th April 1944) AC2 Ronald Richard Carr is buried at Morval (St Wenna) Church Cemetery.
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F/Lt. Kenneth Robert Waugh. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 97 Squadron. (d.25th Apr 1944) Flight-Lt Kenneth R. Waugh of 97 Squadron was the skipper of Lancaster ND500G (OF-G) which was hit by flak, still with 103 incendiaries on board, near Munich at approximately 1.40 a.m. on April 25th 1944. Kenneth R. Waugh is my only uncle, whom of course I never met.
Kenneth, his 19 year-old Engineer Sergeant G.C. Munton, 24 year-old Navigator Flight-Officer R.C. Wickens, 22 year old Gunner Sergeant H. Stewart, 22 year-old Radio Operator Sgt W.E. Alexander and 37 year-old Gunner Flight-Officer R.D. Carter. Bomb-Aimer Flight-Officer G.H. Tulloch was the only one able to bail out and survive, to be interned in Stalagluft 3 until the end of the war.
In the few records I've found on the web, Ken is identified as an "American" from Virginia, or some sort of colonial as it were, from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ken was in fact born in Sao Paulo in 1919, the eldest son of the English-born Governor of The Bank of London and South America, Norman Frederick Waugh and his American-born wife Bessie, of Morgantown, West Virginia, hence the confusion. Ken enjoyed a very privileged and exotic childhood as did his 11-months younger brother Richard, in Brazil, and a far less exotic but still privileged education at Blundells Boy's School in Devon as did his younger brother. When Britain declared it was at war Ken and Richard both volunteered for the RAF to become pilots. Less than perfect vision kept Richard out of a pilot's seat so he had to settle for ground operations, but Ken was deemed fit for pilot training.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything about Ken's early RAFVR record and just as unfortunately I have not been able to find out anything about the crew members of ND-500 G beyond their names but I have learned some of the arc of Ken's wartime life. Having joined-up at the outbreak of war with no flying experience at all I assume Ken would have spent his first couple of years in basic military training, officer training and flight training with the full course of flight training being frequently interrupted by bad weather and general wartime interruptions.
In 1942 Ken was assigned to take part in the Arnold Scheme in the US which provided Britain the means to train pilots and crews in the wide-open balmy skies of the US without interference from Luftwaffe harassment. Ken was placed in Class SE-42-C the third inducted class of 1942 in the American South East, assigned to Lakeland Florida in a training course run by the USAAC (later to become the USAAF). As a result of the American management of the program at Lakeland, Ken earned USAAC wings despite being in the RAFVR, but having done so he was retained as a 'check pilot' for ensuing classes of British pilot and aircrew cadets.
Ken also earned the love of a gorgeous local girl, Jean Ridgely. They married in Florida and when Ken was finally ordered back to England in late 1943, Jean followed Ken across the Atlantic in the US Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa and upon arrival in England, joined the WAAF.
Again I've discovered nothing of Ken's activities at this time. I can only assume he was engaged in some conversion training. From his time as an Arnold Scheme cadet and then check-pilot/instructor he must have accumulated 1,000 hours or more of flight time, but given that the Path Finder Force tended to recruit from exemplary combat-experienced personnel, I wonder if Ken had served with some other active squadron before joining or being acquired by 97 Squadron.
When the crew of ND500G was shot down on the Munich raid of April 24/25 1944, Ken's wife Jean had just learned that she was pregnant. Jean was discharged from the WAAF because of her condtion but stayed in Lonodon until after VE Day, whereupon she returned to the US with her infant daughter named Barbara. Shortly thereafter Jean met and married an American, Paul Hardaker.
Like thousands of others Ken didn't earn any distinctions of skill, fortitude or heroism, which rather highlights how heroic those who did earn such distinctions were, and perversely, perhaps, how heroic too were those whose acts and experiences did not single them out, such were the high standards set by all during that war.
Ken's younger brother Richard (my father) once took a ride, against regulations, in the dickey seat of a Wellington on an 'Op' and recounted to me that he'd never been so scared in his life, a change of trousers was apropos, as he put it. Richard survived the war, initially serving in England, then North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.
As frustrated as I am at having found so little about my uncle's wartime career, I am equally frustrated that I have found out even less about the crew of ND-500G. On the other hand, I am grateful that there are others whose lives and contributions have been have been sufficiently well documented and preserved to serve as representatives of those who otherwise appear as footnotes or mere statistics in the extraordinary events of WWII. May they all be remembered.
S Waugh
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Pte. Thomas Mullen. British Army, 2nd Btn. Durham Light Infantry. (d.25th Apr 1944) Thomas Mullen died aged 32, he was born in Jarrow in 1912 and was the husband of Catherine Mullen (nee Walker) of Primrose Jarrow. Thomas is remembered on the Rangoon Memorial and is commemorated on the WW2 Roll of Honour Plaque in the entrance of Jarrow Town Hall.Vin Mullen
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Spr. William Blyth Nichol. British Army, 586 Field Company Royal Engineers. (d.25th Apr 1944) William Nichol died age 26, he was born in Jarrow in 1917, son of Ishmael and Georgina Nichol (nee Blyth) of Jarrow. William is buried in
Cassino War Cemetery and is commemorated on the WW2 Roll of Honour Plaque in the entrance of Jarrow Town Hall.Vin Mullen
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F/Sgt. John Maxwell Robertson. , 100 Squadron. (d.25th Apr 1944) "I am trying to find out info on a cousin of mine, John Maxwell Robertson (he may have used his 2nd name of Max) who was killed in action on the 25th April 1944. He was an Australian serving in 100 Squadron RAF as a rear gunner on a Lancaster Bomber and was returning on his last mission when his plane was shot down over Belgium. I have been searching the net for any small bit of info about him, but to no avail. Could someone please help? UPDATE: Taken from Bomber Command Losses 1944 (W.R.Chorley)
100sqdn Lancaster,ND328, HW-N. Took off from Grimsby at 22.16hrs for operations to Karlsruhe, reported to have crashed near St Martens-Voeren, 21km NE of Liege. All the crew were originally buried by the Luftwaffe at St Truiden, after the war they were exhumed and taken to the Heverlee War Cemetery. - P/O A.J.T. Armon.
- Sgt D.B. Cox.
- F/O R.F. Weedon.
- Sgt G.R. Boxhall, RCAF.
- Sgt D. Jones.
- Sgt L.D. Bowden, RCAF.
- F/Sgt J.M. Robertson, RAAF.
Your cousins casualty report file is available on request from the National Archives Australia Alan "Wayne Robertson
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F/Sgt. John Maxwell Robertson. , 100 Squadron. (d.25th Apr 1944) "I am trying to find out info on a cousin of mine, John Maxwell Robertson (he may have used his 2nd name of Max) who was killed in action on the 25th April 1944. He was an Australian serving in 100 Squadron RAF as a rear gunner on a Lancaster Bomber and was returning on his last mission when his plane was shot down over Belgium. I have been searching the net for any small bit of info about him, but to no avail. Could someone please help? UPDATE: Taken from Bomber Command Losses 1944 (W.R.Chorley)
100sqdn Lancaster,ND328, HW-N. Took off from Grimsby at 22.16hrs for operations to Karlsruhe, reported to have crashed near St Martens-Voeren, 21km NE of Liege. All the crew were originally buried by the Luftwaffe at St Truiden, after the war they were exhumed and taken to the Heverlee War Cemetery. - P/O A.J.T. Armon.
- Sgt D.B. Cox.
- F/O R.F. Weedon.
- Sgt G.R. Boxhall, RCAF.
- Sgt D. Jones.
- Sgt L.D. Bowden, RCAF.
- F/Sgt J.M. Robertson, RAAF.
Your cousin s casualty report file is available on request from the National Archives Australia Alan "Wayne Robertson
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Pte. Jack Taylor. British Army, 1st Btn. Royal Norfolk Regiment. (d.25th Sep 1944) Jack Taylor was my uncle. I don't know much about his life or why he would have joined the Royal Norfolks. He was a son of a scrap merchant and rag and bone trader from Woolwich, South East London. He was married with a daughter. His wife later moved to Canada I believe so any help in finding this side of my family would be great. Jack was killed driving a lorry liberating Europe. He is buried at Mierlo War Cemetery. Samuel Taylor
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F/O. Lester Lloyd Mortimer. Royal Canadian Air Force, 192 (Special) Sqdn.. (d.25th April 1944) My uncle Lester Mortimer enlisted in the Air Force against his mother's wishes. She was a pacifist. He joined on April 30th, 1942 and was married on 23rd January 1943. After a two-week honeymoon he shipped out to Halifax from where he was sent to England.
He died in the bombing of Karlsruhe, Germany at the age of 22. He is buried in Antwerp and the family always assumed that he died there. With the help of the Internet we now know differently.
His squadron was assigned to test radar blocking devices. And to quote this site: No 192 Squadron flew more sorties and suffered more losses than any other RCM squadron. His evaluations describe him as an intelligent and very personable fellow. He was a great loss to our family. Doris
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Cpl. Thomas Herbert Donoghue. British Army, 1st Btn. Royal Berkshire Regiment. (d.24th April 1944) Cpl Bertie Donoghue was my grandfather, married to Ivy Alice May Donoghue, from London. Thomas had two boys (who were evacuated from London during the war). Ivy went on to have three other children in London but they were all killed by a V2 a few weeks before the end of the war. Ivy and the other three children are buried in Islington cemetery. It wasn't until 2000-2001 that we found the link, concerning Grandad and through it my, dad, William was reunited with family, lost after the war. We have only two pictures of grandad and would love to see others of him with others in his battalion.Ian T Donoghue
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Sgt. Norris Mervyn Harrison. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 76 Squadron. (d.25th Apr 1944)  On the 24th/25th April 1944, P/O Dibbins and the rest of his crew climbed aboard Halifax III LK789 MP-L of No. 76 Squadron for the last time. Having just completed a briefing, the target that night was Karlsruhe, situated in southwest Germany. This was the crew’s 18th operation.
At 22.09 hrs the bomber took off from RAF Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire. According to reports, bombing was scattered due to heavy cloud and a stronger than forecast wind, which pushed the Pathfinders off track. Flak was moderate and ineffective and, over the target area at least, no night fighters were encountered. However, on returning to friendly territory, the bombers were routed ‘up England’ and, due to the very real risk of collision, many flew with navigation lights on, having been briefed that no intruder activity was expected. This was not the case, as Halifax LK789 was engaged and shot down 20 km northeast of Cambridge by a Me410 flown by Leutnant Wolfgang Wenning of II./KG51. The bomber crashed in a field opposite Colony Farm near Welney, Norfolk, after the pilot tried to crash land. All of the crew, with the exception of the rear gunner, were killed. My uncle, Norris Harrison, known as Mervyn, was the mid-upper gunner on the aircraft and was just 19 years old when he lost his life.
Crew:
- P/O. D.R Dibbins, Pilot RAFVR, age 21, killed
- Sgt. G.J Head, Fl/Engineer RAFVR, age 20, killed
- Sgt. K.C Oswald, Navigator RAFVR, age 22, killed
- F/Sgt. J.R Bathe, Bomb Aimer RAFVR, age 30, killed
- Sgt. J.G Davenport, W/Op/AG RAFVR, age 21, killed
- Sgt. N.M Harrison, Air Gunner RAFVR, age 19, killed
- F/Sgt. J. Anderson, Air Gunner RAFVR age 20, injured (he was rushed to RAF Ely hospital with a fractured femur and head injuries)
Mike Harrison
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