The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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254513 LAC. John William Hayhurst Royal Air Force from:Sunderland John Hayhurst was born to Harry Hayhurst, who himself had been in World War 1. From the couple of letters that have been kept, it would appear that his plan was to help his Mother by signing up and sending money back home. He was, at one point, unable to write home and got a message back to his mother stating that he was well and enjoying his time in the RAF. His service in the RAF was not something that he ever spoke about. He was so good at shooting, that he got banned from the funfair in Portsmouth, where he moved after the War. It was though he was a gunner, however records reveal that he was basically a scavenger. He went by ship to Egypt and records at Kew indicate that there was hardly ever any flying in that area due to poor weather conditions. The people who went out to take parts of planes that were shot down are mentioned however and he was part of that team. He always had a desire to fly, which one can presume is why he signed up in the first place. Records also show that he was in hospital for a considerable amount of time. It is not known why, but he did tell his wife when she asked about his scar, that it was him, or so one can presume it was some sort of injury. He was then put on outlook duty. A Visit to the RAF Museum revealed, 42 OTU was a Training Unit at Ashbourne (Glider Squadron) Whitleys were used to pull up the gliders, he was part of 6644 Servicing Echelon. His character is shown as "Very Good" and he moved through the ranks from AC2, Aircraftsman 2nd Class, to AC1, Aircraftsman 1st Class and then to Leading Aircraftsman. He passed an Armament Course with 50% and then the next exam with 62.3% and LAC exam 82% June Shearing Add to this record.  Related Content: RAF Ashbourne Western Desert Campaign in North Africa 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.