The Wartime Memories Project
The Second World War - Day by Day.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

23rd November 1942 On this day:  49 Squadron Lancaster lost  In Action  On the Move  Air Raid  Training  Two aircraft lost  On the Move  Merchantman sunk  127 Squadron pilot killed  Move  Algiers bombed  Move to new airfield  Lost at sea  Detachments  Conference  On the Move  Administrative Situation Report up to 23 Nov 42  Unloading  Transport to Acra  Move If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Remembering those who died this day. Brock Thomas W.. Sgt. (d.23rd Nov 1942) Meakin William. Gnr. (d.23rd Nov 1942) Rubbins Geoffrey. Tpr. (d.23rd Nov 1942) Weymouth Charles Anthony. Sgt. (d.23rd Nov 1942) 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 The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 16th Jan 2025 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 265273 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQs The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about the 23rd of November 1942? There are:20 items tagged 23rd of November 1942 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. Stories from 23rd November 1942 Sgt. Thomas W. Brock. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Air Gunner 44(R) Squadron. (d.23rd Nov 1942) This is the brief history of my 1st cousin , once removed , Thomas W Brock. Thomas was born in Suffolk , his birth being registered at Mildenhall. He was the son of Thomas Brock and Emma Maude Cross. I have yet to establish when he joined the RAF and subsequently where he trained as an Air Gunner. I have tried to research the relevant ORB for 44 Sqn but unfortunately it does not state when Thomas arrived on 44 Sqn. He was crewed up with P/O Stanley Ryder Yyoung aged 23 Pilot, the rest of the crew being as follows : 106529 F/O David John Appleton aged 20 Nav 1395027 Sgt Thomas W Brock 32 Mid Upper Gunner 1310164 Sgt Walter Kenneth Page 20 WOP/AG 525640 Sgt Charles A Weymouth 28 Flight Engineer R83273 WO2 John George Tough 20 Rear Gunner RCAF 405531 Sgt Edward Aston Waters 22 Bomb Aimer RNZAF The ORB shows Thomas crewed with Sgt R Easom to Cologne in Lanc W4180 on 15 Oct 42 - he may well have been a substitute for Sgt Easom's regular rear gunner for this op. 6th Nov 42 shows Thomas with P/O Young in Lanc R5062 KM-B on ops to Genoa leaving Waddington 21.57 returning 07.04 7th Nov 42 again with P/O Young this time in Lanc R5666 KM-F . Forced to jettison bombs due to extreme icing at 17000 ft on approach to Alps. no target attacked. 9th November saw the same crew on ops to Hamburg again in KM-F . Take off was 17.58 , bombs gone 20.33 - returned to Waddington 23.09 This crew then had a break until 20th November when , again in KM-F , they attacked Turin - take off 1850 - bombs gone 22.27 - return to Waddington 03.36 22 November saw their last operation - destination Stuttgart. The take off time was not logged by operations and no further contact was had with the aircraft W4304 KM-C . The ORB just states "Aircraft failed to return" It was lost without trace either on the way to or from the target. Did they manage to bomb? Were they shot down either by flak of nightfighters? Unfortunately we will never know. Thomas has no marked grave , only a mention with thousands of other aircrew on the Runnymede Memorial. I served 20 years in the Royal Air force. I walked around the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery and saw all the graves of those aircrew who have a final resting place. I saw their ages , some as young as 18 years of age. I must admit it bought a tear to my eye. Paul R Evans Add to this record. Tpr. Geoffrey Rubbins. British Army, 56th Regiment Reconnaissance Corps. (d.23rd Nov 1942) Geoffrey Rubbins was tragically killed in Tunisia and is buried out there. The Reconnaissance Book of Commemoration of 1950 has in fact 2 inserts for Geoffrey - due to the surname Robbins and Rubbins. Christopher Honey Add to this record. Gnr. William Meakin. British Army, 89th Battery Royal Artillery. (d.23rd Nov 1942) William Meakin died as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese at the time of the fall of Singapore. Just discovered that he is not named on the village War Memorial but now we know, we will remember him. Ivan Brentnall Add to this record.

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 - MMXXV - 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, books, magazines or any other forms of media.