260719 F/O. Nelson Avery Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 142 Squadron from:Cleaver Hotel, Darlington (d.13th July 1943) Nelson Avery was a cousin of my grandmother. As a young boy I was always told that he was killed at Arnhem, together with his brother William, and for years I assumed that they were both killed during Operation Market-Garden. I recently learned that, in fact, Nelson was killed in 1943 when his Wellington failed to return from Messina and that William was killed in 1944 during operations in Walcheren, Holland and is buried at Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery, which probably lead to the association with Arnhem.
My Grandmother used to tell me that following the death of both of her sons, her Aunt would open the windows at home whenever she heard aircraft flying over, a sad, yet somewhat amusing result of the effects of war.
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