208131 Hawthorn Dalrymple Reid Royal Air Force 115 Squadron from:Arbroath, Scotland This story is from the village of Morolles sur Seine, France.
Hawthorn Dalrymple Reid of 13 Guthrie Port, Arbroath, Scotland was a
Sgt, in the RAF with 115 Squadron, Bomber Command, navigator.
His Aircraft Mk.III Vickers Wellington, X3393, KO-H, was shot up on the night of 9 to 10 December 1942 on a mission to Turin, hit by a Ju-88 fighter, he crashed at 23 pm December 9, 1942 while trying to return to England. The aircraft crashed near Yonne, France. Over the next 2 weeks, he undertook the Passage of the Pyrenees, arriving in Spain on the 1st of January 1943.
The report of escape SPG 1057 states:
Reid replaces the usual navigator of the crew for this mission. The pilot is Sydney Smith. Reid landed near the burning aircraft and hides his parachute, fur jacket, one remaining flying boot, Mae West and Battle-Dress jacket. Then he walks in the north to a road. He goes to Nogent, which he avoids and continues to Montereau-Fault-Yonne [In fact, it is Marolles-sur-Seine ]. He takes refuge in a cabin from 08 to 16 hours on December 11. He has no survival ration, and had lost a boot and a sock by jumping from the aircraft. He stole some apples, then went to a house. An elderly lady Ms. Thisy, gives him a warm bath and a place to sleep. He stayed in a safe house for six days. Meanwhile, a young woman from Barbey made two trips to Paris to reach an organization.
He is guideed to Paris on December 17, and handed over to a priest who hides him in a closet in his seminar, "The Swallows" on the Boulevard Raspail. Reid sleeps in a sleeping bag on a cot and can go play pool when the kids are gone. The priest, Father Beauvais contacts people. After two days, he is visited by two French secret agents. The fourth night, Robert Ayles comes to the priest and took Reid to his flat at 37 Rue de Babylone. His pilot Sydney Smith had just left two days earlier. He stayed 12 days and receives papers and certificate of residence.
|