Sgt. John Porrelli
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve A Flight 514 Squadron
from:Bradford, West Yorkshire
(d.16th Jun 1944)
Operational Flying: Bombing – Valenciennes.
Weather: Mainly fine and sunny all day. Some cloud.
Non-Operational Flying: Air Tests and Cross Country were carried out.
20 aircraft were detailed and took off. 17 aircraft attacked the primary target, 1 aircraft was abortive owing to navigational aid failures and returned early, 2 aircraft are missing. 10/10ths cloud at 10,000 feet was encountered over the target, crews were instructed to bomb below cloud by the Master Bomber. Markers were scattered, but concentration was slightly improved by Master Bomber and bursts observed across marshalling yards. No flak or searchlights. F/S RD Pick in LL666, JI-D reported: Bomb load 16 x 500 GP, 2 x 500 MC. Primary target: Valenciennes. Weather clear below cloud – base 1000 feet. Bombed at 0039 hours from 9000 feet on green TIs as instructed by Master Bomber. Good concentrated bombing. Much interference on R/T. Route very good.
DS816, JI-O. Shot down, probably at 0051 hours by Bf110 flown by Hauptmann Hubert Rauh of Stab II/|NJG4. Crashed at Croisilles (Pas de Calais) where those who died are buried in the British Cemetery.
- F/S Charles Frank "Ted" Prowles Pilot
- P/O Arnold Hughes Morrison RAAF Navigator
- Sgt Raymond Surtees WOP/Air
- F/S Ronald Bernard "Spence" Spencer RAAF Bomb Aimer
- Sgt Arthur Albert "Bert" Holmes MU Gunner
- Sgt John "Jack" Porrelli Rear Gunner
- Sgt Henry Albert "Harry" Osborn Flight Engineer
Sergeant Porrelli was aged 35 when he died. He was the son of Lilly and Carmine Porrelli and husband of Mabel Elizabeth Porrelli, all of Bradford. He was the grandfather of author Andrew Porrelli. RAAF Flight Lieutenant Arnold Hughes Morrison was awarded the DFC for evading capture. Some 2800 people of Croisilles turned out to honour the dead of DS816, JI-O after it was shot down over the town. The Germans did not intervene to stop this moving tribute to the loss of Flight Sergeant Ted Prowles and his crew.
Arnold Morrison was discharged from the RAAF as a Flight Lieutenant on 30th May 1945. P/O Morrison later filed the following crash report for the RAAF: ‘About eight minutes after bombing the target, we were attacked presumably by a night fighter. Cannon shell raked the port side and the port wing was set on fire. The aircraft was losing height rapidly and at about 8000 feet, the Captain ordered the crew to ‘prepare to abandon’. By 2000 feet, the Air Bomber had not been able to remove the front escape hatch. I am not certain whether the Rear Gunner, Mid Upper Gunner or the WOP had baled out through the rear escape hatch but the remainder stayed in the aircraft. The pilot landed the aircraft on a fairly flat field and the aircraft disintegrated and was set on fire. I was unconscious for a while, and while still in a dazed condition looked without result to the numerous small fires for the remainder of the crew. I was informed by the Germans that their bodies were in the wreck and buried in the cemetery at Croisilles, France. The funeral was attended by about 2800.’
Source: Linda Miles, daughter of Pilot Officer AH Morrison, the only survivor from the crew.
"Lest We Forget"
