211659 Flt. Sgt. Leslie Charles "Jimmy" Roots Royal Air Force Volunteer 100 Squadron from:Walthamstow, London E17 (d.18/19th July 1944) My uncle, Leslie Charles Roots, trained as a Navigator at Air School 44 in Grahamstown, South Africa and passed out as a Flight Sergeant navigator in May 1943. He returned to the UK and was stationed in Lincolnshire at various RAF stations with the RAF Volunteer 100 Squadron. He was part of a Lancaster crew and flew on several bombing missions. His final flight was on the night of 18th/19th July 1944 in Lancaster LM620 which left RAF Grimsby to drop bombs on the Synthetic Oil Plants at Scholven. His plane was shot down at 0140 hours and all the crew were reported as missing presumed dead. Their remains were buried initially at Hassel near Gelderskirchen but later moved to the cemetery at Reichswald. He was born in 1921 and was just 22 years old when he died. If anyone has any further information in respect of my uncle, I would dearly love to make contact.
|