The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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231042 Cpl. John Edward Taylor Royal Air Force 514 Squadron from:Lee, London I have just discovered why my father, John Edward Taylor, was awarded the B.E.M. I bought Airfields of World War 2 by Jonathan Falconer. On Page 282 a photo showed the Crash Crew of 514 Squadron, with my father in asbestos suit at the centre. The author, who I emailed, was exceptionally kind and helpful. He sent me the following account taken from The London Gazette, 29th of January 1943. In October 1942, a four-engined Short Stirling bomber, crashed while attempting to land at RAF Waterbeach. The petrol tanks were ablaze and ammunition was exploding in all directions. Squadron Leader Charles Lofthouse DFC, led the rescue, accompanied by Aircraftmen John Edward Taylor and Albert Henry Martin. They repeatedly entered the burning fuselage. They continued their efforts for over an hour removing five crew members, four of whom subsequently died of their injuries. Squadron Leader Lofthouse and Aircraftmen Taylor (my father) and Martin displayed great energy and a complete disregard for their own safety. This occurred when Waterbeach was hosting No.1651 HCU. Squadron Leader Lofthouse DFC received the OBE. Aircraftmen Taylor and Martin each received the BEM (Military Division) No-one would wish to rejoice after such a tragic accident, but I was delighted to discover, thanks to Jonathan Falconer, that my father who died in 1948 had been and still is - a hero. Molly Add to this record.  Related Content: No. 514 Squadron Royal Air Force RAF Waterbeach Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. 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. Contact us. 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.