234357 Sgt. Alfred Malcolm Hodges Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 100 Squadron from:Trowbridge (d.21st Apr 1943) Sergeant Alfred Malcolm Hodges was known to family and friends as 'Malcolm'. He was born and grew up in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and was one of seven children, having one brother Peter and five sisters Kate, Betty, Ilene, Daphne, Avril and Thelma.
Malcolm served with RAF 100 Squadron and flew on a night mission, taking off from Grimsby on 20th April 1943, along with fellow crew members Pilot Flight Lieutenant William A Jones, Sergeant Donald R Ling, Flight Officer Guy B Herring RAAF, Sergeant Bernard M Cooper, Sergeant Samuel J Houston and Sergeant Clifford Walker.
Their aircraft was Lancaster III ED557 which belonged to RAF 100 Squadron Bomber Command and was coded HW-Y. Take off time from Grimsby was 21:57 hrs and the Operation was Stettin.
On the return flight the aircraft was tragically hit by German flak at 01:31 hrs on 21st April 1943 from II Zug I.lei 985 and from Sperrbrecker 22 and was believed to have crashed into the Store Baelt.
Only the body of Sergeant Clifford Walker was recovered from the Samso Baelt and was laid to rest in Bispebjerg Cemetery in Copenhagen on 1st May 1943, on the orders of the occupying Germans.
Sadly, none of the remaining crew members have known graves, though all are commemorated at the RAF Memorial in Runnymede, Royal Berkshire.
|