Flt.Lt. James Arthur Neve DFC.
Royal Air Force 109 Squadron
from:Ventnor Avenue, Middlesex, London
My father James Arthur Neve DFC joined 109 Squadron at Little Staughton in March 1945. He was a navigator. He had already completed 28 operations in 1943-4 on Halifaxes with 51 Squadron at Snaith.
At 109 Squadron his pilot was F/O John McIntosh DFC and Bar. They completed 16 operations including targets at Bremen, Weimar, Berlin, Dessau, Paderborn and Eggebeck (the last operation of the war). They also took part in several missions for operation 'Manna' marking aiming points for dropping supplies to the Dutch. My father went on one operation on a Lancaster during Operation Dodge to Italy to bring back servicemen who could not return easily due to transport hold-ups.
My father's Authorisation of Release for Demobilisation was 3 November 1945 and his effective date of release was 6 January 1946. After the war he retrained as a teacher and ended up as the Headmaster of Sandhurst Primary School in Kent. He married Staff Nurse Eileen Stubbs in May 1947 having met her at a dance near Little Staughton in May 1945. Eileen was a nurse at The Royal Free Hospital in London and had been relocated with other nurses and patients to Arlesey in Bedfordshire after bombing damaged part of the Royal Free. They had a daughter, Hilary in 1948 and a son, James in 1957.
