F/Sgt. Harry Pordage . Royal Australian Air Force 86 Squadron from Brisbane, Australia (d.18th November 1944)
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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"
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Sgt. John Porrelli . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 514 Sqdn. from Bradford (d.16th June 1944) My father, John Porrelli and crew were lost after a raid on Valenciennes on 16th June 1944. Six of the crew are buried at Croisilles British War Cemetery (one member survived and evaded capture). I have a photo of the funeral cortege. It was taken by the brave French resistance I believe. If anyone has an interest or further information about the crew please email me.
His Lancaster was DS816 JI-O. The full crew were:
F/Sgt C.F. Prowles, KIA
Sgt. H.A. Osborn, KIA
F/Sgt R.B. Spencer, KIA
Sgt. R. Surtees, KIA
Sgt. J. Porrelli, KIA
Sgt. A.A.Holmes, KIA
F/O A.H.Morrison, evaded capture
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Horace C. Porrett . British Army Horace Porrett served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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A.C.I/LAC Donald George Porritt . Royal Air Force MU/MEF 107 B Squadron from Bradford I have found many photos of my father,- Palestine, Egypt, RAF Halton and Cosford.
I think he may have joined up in Jan 1940? - RAF Malton, in A Squadron initially. He was in Egypt by June 1941.
One or two of the photos, have all the names on the back, a group, with names, is dated 28th Aug. Cosford. Block 3. A squadron. 2 Wing. RAF Malton.
I will happily attempt to copy some of the photos if needed.
My father was in the RAF after the war, based in Ismalia, by now married, with mum and me as a baby.
He died in 1950, polio, having left the RAF in approx.1949.
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Pte. John Porritt . British Army 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment John Porritt enlisted into the Northamptonshire Regiment on the 16th of August 1934 and was posted out to the 1st Battalion in India where he earned the India General Service Medal 1936-37. The Battalion was in Burma from 1943 and he was finally discharged on the 16th of August 1946.
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Cpl. Dan D. Port . Royal Air Force No. 39 Maintenance Unit from Broomfield, Kent Whilst serving in the Motor Transport section of 39 MU at RAF Colerne, Dan Port met my mother.
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RV Port . British Army RV Port served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Able Sea. Thomas John Port . Royal Navy HMS Anthony from Aldbourn, Wiltshire
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John Porte . British Army 240 Coy Royal Army Service Corps from Hull Jack Porte served with 240 Company, Royal Army Service Corps.
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Supply Ass. Andrew Goldie Porteous . Royal Navy HMS Prunella (d.21st Jun 1940)
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J Porteous . British Army Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders J Porteous served with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Sub.Lt.(E) James Porteous . Royal Naval Reserve HMS Forfar from Glasgow, Scotland (d.2nd Dec 1940)
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Sgt. Lawrence Stokes Porteous . British Army Seaforth Highlanders from Scotland, Edinburgh
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Sgt. Thomas Porteous . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 144 Squadron (d.6th Jul 1941) Thomas Porteous who died aged 25 was born in Jarrow in 1915 to William Scott Porteous and Mary Porteous (nee Harvey) of Jarrow.
Thomas is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial and is commemorated on the WW2 Roll of Honour Plaque in the entrance of Jarrow Town Hall.
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Sgt. Alec Porter . Royal Air Force 9 Squadron from Carlisle (d.22nd May 1944) My uncle Alec Porter was, I think, bomb aimer on Lancaster DV395 code letters WSV on a bombing mission over Duisberg on the night of 21/22 May 1944 & was missing presumed killed. He was 20 years old. He trained in Canada originally as a pilot but failed a medical. I'm not sure if he was a bomb aimer or navigator.
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Fireman Arthur John Porter . Auxiilary Fire Service from Abbey Road, London Arthur Porter was my father who joined the AFS and was based at Lords Cricket Ground in St John's Wood. The vehicles used to tow the pump were London taxis, now known as black cabs. He went through the London Blitz fighting the numerous fires.
He was eventually invalided out because of a hernia, but was then called up for the Army in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps finishing up in North Africa and Italy.
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Flt Sgt Bernard Leslie Porter . Royal Air Force from Downpatrick, N.Ireland I am trying to trace anyone who was in the evacuation of Crete. My father, Barney Porter, was one of the last to leave and told us very little of the fierce fighting except that the serving men were held back in order for the Belgian royal family to get out on one of the last planes. Does anyone know anything of this?
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W/O Denis Porter . Royal Air Force 550 Squadron from Glasgow Hi,
I have my uncles (in law!) log books and bombing records while with 550 Sqd 1943-45. He was W/O Denis Porter, from Glasgow, who survived to become a teacher and deputy Headmaster in Glasgow. He flew with P/O Vaughn. Anyone interested in this stuff? I can scan and send pages from logbook. It makes sparse but terrific reading..with 'sticky landings' mentioned.
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Sgt E J C Porter . Royal Air Force 434 Bluenose Squadron. (d.20th Jan 1944)
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W/C E. L. Porter DFC.. 97 Squadron
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Capt. Eric Oakley Herbert Porter . British Army from New Milton Eric Porter was my father. He was born in 1908 and died in 1970.
He volunteered and joined the army in 1939 but did not see active service in the fighting as he had contracted a duodenal ulcer. He spent a large part of the war looking after POWs at the camp in Mardy, initially Italian soldiers and latterly German.
He resided with me and my mother billeted in a farm house belonging to the Evans family next to the camp. I have memories of crossing over a small fence from there and going into the camp when it was occupied by the Italian POWs and recall talking to an Italian soldier called Grinisi, this was probably in early 1944. At this stage the Italians were no longer belligerents.
My father continued looking after POWs at the end of the war and was posted to a Reception Camp (64 if I recall correctly) in Kuala Lumpar for the Japanese soldiers after the surrender. For a while families were not allowed to accompany serving soldiers but this was relaxed in 1946 and I and my mother sailed to Malaya in the Britannic and stayed there until the time of Indian independence. Schooling was carried out by the Army Education Corps and my teacher (who taught me to read) was a Sergeant Judge. We returned to the UK on the Georgic and were lucky enough to dock at Bombay over the few days that India got its independence.
My father was demobbed on his return to the UK and continued his prewar career as a banker with National Bank of Egypt.
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CSM. Frank Edward Porter MID.. British Army 4th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment from Sturminster Newton, Dorset Frank Porter served with D Coy, 4th Battalion, the Dorsets from early 1930 thro'to 1945.The 4th were a
Territional Regiment of volunteer soldiers.
Prior to D-Day+4 he trained with his men around bases in the South of England. The main and final camp was at St.Martins Plain,Folkstone,Kent.
Invasion for them was at the time of the "Great Storm" in the Channel just before the break-up of the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanche. Just the first of many hair-raising exploits I was to find out over time in the war over Europe. Wherever the fighting was the hardest the 4th Dorsets were in the thick of it!! But Old Frank made it through. The toughest test was in September 1944 at a small Dutch town call Arnhem.
The 4th were, as in army parlance "volunteered", for the suicidal rescue of the remaining Parachute Brigade. No words could convey the horrors or the heroism of that night of all who took part in the action. Frank said "It was down to a tin of bullybeef and some fags". He forgot to mention he was Mentioned in Despatches for what he alone did.
The heavy fighting continued right to the very end of the war with no let-up and a great many casualties.Frank's re-enforcements were largely 18-19 year old "Brummies", Dorset dialect and Birmingham accents!! Bet that confused the "Jerry".
The post-script to Frank's military career was on Lindenburgh Heath with the Battalion lined-up to give him a "Military General Salute" and a rousing farewell. Frank and Lil (his devoted wife) supported the RBL and attended all Regimental Re-unions until his death.
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Pte. George Harry Porter . British Army Gordon Highlanders
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Pte. George Harry Porter . British Army Gordon Highlanders from Glasgow, Scotland My dad George Porter enlisted on the 16th of October and served with the BEF in France from 19th of April 1940 to the 12th of June 1940. He was captured at Valery-en-Caux, France and was marched through France, Belgium and Holland. Then in the holds of barges down the Rhine to Emmirch, from there loaded into trucks and made the journey to Thorn, Poland. No food or water for days. Then onto Danzig then later transferred to Marienberg, Poland. Where he remained until January 1945 when his camp was liberated by the Russians. He finally made it back to the UK by the end of March 1945.
My dad didn't talk about the war, or what happened to him. A few years prior to his death in 2004, he wrote his memories down and handed me the diary, told me to not ask any more questions as he just wanted to put that in the past.
I typed these out and also applied for his war medals, but he would neither look at the newly typed document or accept the medals, telling me to give these to his grandchildren.
My dad was my hero.
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Flt.Sgt. Harvey James Porter . Royal Australian Air Force 103 Squadron from Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia (d.13th March 1945) Flight Sergeant Harvey Porter was the son of John James Porter and Stella May Porter, of Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia.
He was 20 when he died and is buried in a joint grave in the Tarm Isolated Grave in Denmark.
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Pte. Herman Reeves "Bud" Porter . United States Army Field Artillery from Dyer, Arkansas, USA Herman Porter was my great-uncle. I heard as a child that he had been a prisoner of war in Germany during WWII. My grandmother told me that Uncle Bud had come back from the war in bad health, thin and with feet that had frozen, and had a hard time walking at first. She told me that he had been forced to work in a mine (possibly a coal or salt mine?). She also said he never talked about it. I looked up his military records and found out that he was at Stalag IV-B, Sachsen 51 13 at Muhlberg, Germany. Through your website I was able to find out the information about the POW camp. He is buried in the Fort Smith, Arkansas Veterans Cemetery and his tombstone has Prisoner of War on it.
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Cpl. JA Porter . British Army Reconnaissance Regiment Cpl.JA Porter served with the Reconnaissance Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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JE Porter . British Army Lancashire Fusiliers JE Porter served with the Lancashire Fusiliers British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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