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17th April 1943On this day:
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Remembering those who died this day.
- Bone Alexander Victor. F/O. (d.17th Apr 1943)
- Brown. Stephen Hugh Colin . Sgt (d.17th Apr 1943 )
- Clinging. Brodie John . Sgt (d.17th Apr 1943 )
- Fidgeon Francis Christopher . Sgt (d.17th Apr 1943 )
- Fill H. . Sgt
- Gielty A. . Sgt
- Guay. Joseph Jacques Alfred . W.O.
- Haines L. . F/Sgt
- Hounslow Stanley Jack. Pte. (d.17th Apr 1943)
- Howie Alexander George. (d.17th Apr 1943)
- Jonasson. Leonard Norman . Sgt (d.17th Apr 1943 )
- MacDonald. Irving . Sgt.
- Mandy Henry John Thomas. Fus. (d.17th April 1943 )
- Pilon. François Rolland . F/Sgt.
- Ross Allen Roderick. Flt Sgt (d.17 Apr 43)
- Ross. Francis Owen . F/Sgt (d.17th Apr 1943 )
- Spencer Arthur Victor Sidney. L/Sgt. (d.17th April 1943)
- Strachan. John . Sgt (d.17th Apr 1943 )
- Webb Kenneth Ernest. Sgt. (d.17th Apr 1943)
- Wedderburn. Brian Walter Edward . Sgt (d.17th Apr 1943 )
- Winter R. . Sgt
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
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Want to know more about the 17th of April 1943? There are:16 items tagged 17th of April 1943 available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Stories from 17th April 1943
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Flt Sgt Allen Roderick Ross. RCAF, 76 Sqn.. (d.17 Apr 43) Allen Roderick Ross came from his home in Vancouver, British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario to join the RCAF. After enlisting, there was a delay for processing to the Manning Depot. He was directed to Wilson Auto Body for temporary subsistence employment until called up for Basic Training. He was assigned as an assistant to my Father, August Merkel. They became friends and after a period of time, Allen Ross's call came to proceed to the Manning Depot. At his going away party, Allen, knowing that August's wife Anne was pregnant, asked him, that if it is a boy, to name it after him. He left, I was born 28 Aug 42, and early in 1943 word came to the shop that Allen Roderick Ross was lost on a mission to Pilsen.
He was a Flight Sergeant W.A.G. serving in RAF 76 Squadron Handley Page Halifax Mk-V serial number DK165, Squadron number MP-E. He is buried in
Rheinberg War Cemetery in plot number 18.H.4.
I have found and downloaded quite a bit of revelent info of the night of 17 Apr 43, but am unable to retrieve any crew photos of DK165. Allan Ross Merkel
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Fus. Henry John Thomas Mandy. British Army, 6th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. (d.17th April 1943 ) I don't know much about Henry Mandy other than what I have found in FindMyPast (1939 and WW11 records) and Ancestry. Henry John Thomas Mandy was born 24 Jan 1913 in West Ham, Essex. He is listed as missing with death date of 17th of April 1943, remembered at Medjez el Bab, Baja, Tunisia (Memorial of the Missing).
In the 1939 Register he is recorded as
a C W S Warehouseman Porter Fruit etc. Heavy Worker. Single. >DOB: 24 Jan 1913. Living with his parents - John A Mandy DOB: 24 May 1880, General Labourer Heavy Worker, Married; Matilda Mandy DOB: 09 Jan 1879, Unpaid Domestic Duties, Married. All living at address entered above.
I have checked parents through Ancestry and this fits. His mother is nee Tolley.
Ruth Wright
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Pte. Stanley Jack Hounslow. British Army, 2nd Btn. Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment. (d.17th Apr 1943) Jack Hounslow was killed in action during the Tunisian Campaign.E J Hounslow
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F/O. Alexander Victor Bone. Royal Air Force, 49 Squadron. (d.17th Apr 1943) Alec Bone served with 49 Squadron Royal Air Force. I'm looking for any information about him, he was the brother of Arthur "Alf" Bone, or any living relatives.
Any help would be much appreciated.Samantha
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Alexander George Howie. Royal Navy, HMS Drake IV. (d.17th Apr 1943) I have recently discovered Alexander Howie was the son of my Godmother Florence Howie.
His father, Alexander Beatson Howie had been in the merchant navy and was awarded an O.B.E.(although I have yet to discover the reason for this award).
Alexander senior served on the Osiris II during WWI as an engineer and died from T.B.in Marseille in 1949 whilst serving on the Verand aged 71.
Alexander George Howie served with HMS Drake IV and died on the 17th of April 1943 aged 22. Carmen Johnson
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L/Sgt. Arthur Victor Sidney Spencer. British Army, 5th Battalion Grenadier Guards. (d.17th April 1943) Arthur was born in the Foleshill Coventry area of Warwickshire. He married Olive Eyden at Staines in 1941. They had a son Barrie. Arthur is buried at the Medjez El Bab War Cemetery in Beja, Tunisia
Teresa Eyden Wycherley
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Sgt. Kenneth Ernest Webb. Royal Air Force, 76 Squadron. (d.17th Apr 1943) Sgt Pilot Kenneth Webb was the skipper of Handley Page Halifax DK165 MP-E.
His crew were:
- F/Sgt Stanley Braybrook Fight Engineer
- F/Sgt Allen Ross RCAF Wireless Operator
- Sgt Jack Kay Bomb Aimer
- Sgt Kenneth Rees Williams Navigator
- Sgt Leslie Mitchell Mid-upper-gunner
- F/Sgt Geoffrey Brown Rear gunner.
On 16th/17th of April 1943 they bombed the Skoda Works in Pilsen Czechoslovakia.
Over the target they were caught in searchlights but successfully slipped out of the beams. On the return flight they were twice attacked. The first attack was an explosion at the rear, and the pilot Ken Webb ordered Mitch to go aft to check on the rear gunner Geoff. As he reached aft and saw that most of the turret had gone, Mitch, after the war, to Ken Webb's parents, explained that at that moment there was a terrific explosion amidships immediately beneath the mid upper turret, breaking the Halifax in half, and he came down in the tail section 'spinning like an autumn leaf'.
On the ground, German civilians rescued him from the wreckage. The crash site is located in forest-land in Lachen Speyerdorf Germany and a Memorial now stands at the spot where the cockpit came to rest. The site was located and excavated by permission of the German Government by Herr Erik Wieman and Herr Peter Berkel of IG Heimat Forschung in 2015, the Memorial being consecrated on 4th August 2018 when families of the crew attended.
Frau Hedi Kraus also attended. A young girl in 1943, her mother gave permission for her to lay flowers on the graves in the local cemetery, where the crew had been buried by the Luftwaffe with full military honours.
I am Ken Webb's nephew and next of kin, also Ken Webb, and it was an amazing moment when Hedi called out in German, "Please, Ken Webb Junior lay these flowers for ken Webb Senior and all the crew as I did." It was an incredible moment.
I also met the son of the late Herr Manfred Watta, who had died shortly before, and who had supplied a drawing to the excavation team of the crash site on the morning that Manfred had seen it as a boy. Herr Watta went on to become a very successful architect and artist and is survived by his widow and son.
The operation was a maximum effort, comprising a force of 609 aicraft on a split raid between Pilsen and Mannheim, the latter to draw German air defences away from the main stream heading for the Skoda Works. 54 planes failed to return, a loss of 378 aircrew which, at the time was reported to be the highest single loss of the Strategic Air Offensive.
It is extraordinary that the nephews of the pilot and flight engineer are now good friends who meet regularly since 2017. Kenneth Thomas Webb
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