JEFFERY – William Wade (Bunny)

2236049 – William Wade Jeffery – British Honduras – Air gunner – Sergeant

Born British Honduras, 1924

Possibly attended a Foreign Service Programme Course at University College Oxford in 1961. 

https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/University-College-Oxford-Record-2016.pdf  See “Lost List,” p. 93 (explanation);  p. 97 William Wade Jeffery’s name. He would have been 37 at the time.

Later Permanent Secretary Ministry of Works, Communications and Public Utilities.

[Courtesy AD]

William Wade Jeffery RAF and his sister Grace Jeffery, ATS

William (Bunny) Jeffery later permanent Secretary Ministry of Works, Communications & Public Utilities copy

PEPITUNE – Orlando Joseph (Jose)

1396389 – Orlando Joseph Pepitune

Orlando Pepitune

 

Orlando Jose Pepitune, a retired shipping and receiving manager for Thompson Equipment Co., died Monday [October 20, 2003] at Metropolitan Hospice. He was 80. Mr. Pepitune was born in Belize City, Belize, and lived in Metairie [Louisiana] for the past 36 years. He was a graduate of St. John’s College in Belize City. He was a member of the Belize Association. During World War II, he served in the British Royal Air Force in England.

(From:  The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) – October 22, 2003)

[Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65986189/orlando-pepitune  (accessed 03/06/2020); courtesy Audrey Dewejee]

BritishHonduras

LIND – Raymond

There is an Acting Flt. Lt. Raymond Lind in 1945 mentioned on Forces War Records website, but it is uncertain if this is the same person.

[Source: Caribbean Roll of Honour]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I notice from your website that there is an uncertainty about Ray Lind. I can confirm that he was indeed in the RAF during World War II, that he joined the RAF in 1942 from his home in Belize, British Honduras.

He was with 199 (Bomber Support) Squadron in 1944 . . .  mentioned in a book on the war-time squadron where Bomber Command launched an attack on Konigsbery and Settin on 29 August Ray Lind, pilot of Stirling aircraft LJ595 EX-N, section 1, part of a ‘windows’ diversionary raid. Also mentioned in October ’44 during the ‘Second Battle of the Rhur” again on a Diversionary Raid, dropping “Windows” around Brussels and continuing on to west of Frankfurt; return to their base at North Creake, Norfolk.

Ray rose from Flight Sergent, Flying Officer to Flight Lieutenant. He was awarded the DFC on 17th July, 1946. His service number I think is: 170076.

He died in Birchington, Kent on 10th July, 2017 age 99 years. (born 13-1-18)

[Source: pjpopple@gmail.com]

Attached photos:

Ray posed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Photo

Ray2 CREW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray with his aircrew

 

Ray & Duke1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray with Duke of Edinburgh (out in south east Asia possibly Malaya)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARCHAND – Chester

MARCHAND, CHESTER JOSEPH FRANCIS

Nationality: British Honduras
Rank: Flying Officer
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Unit
Text: 7 Sqdn. Date of Death: 26/08/1944
Service No: 158046
Additional information: Of British Honduras.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial
Reference: Panel 207.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL,UK.

[Source: Caribbean Roll of Honour]


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Source: Unknown pulication, courtesy Nadia Cattouse via Audrey Dewjee]

 

EGERTON-EVES – Charles


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Servicemen and women from the West Indies pictured in a BBC studio broadcasting messages home on the weekly overseas service, 19 October 1943. From left to right: Private Norma Marsh and Aircraftman Arthur Chin (both from Kingston, Jamaica); Private Nellie Forrester (from Montego Bay, Jamaica), Sapper Darnley Watts (of St Michael’s, Barbados); Nurse Vernice Lewis and Aircraftman Edwin Angus (both of Kingston, Jamaica); Pilot Officer Charles Egerton-Eves (of Stann Creek, British Honduras). On the far left of the photograph is Una Marson of the BBC.

[Source: Imperial War Museum]


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Source: Unknown pulication, courtesy Nadia Cattouse via Audrey Dewjee]

 

WAIGHT – Cassian Henry

1396398 – C.H. Waight – British Honduras – attested 16.9.41 – Ach/W/Op.Air
172841 – P/O – commissioned 3.2.44

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876 – Nominal Roll of Coloured Candidates, October 1944]

F/S – Henry Cassian Waight – British Honduras (Belize), born 1912

Bomb Aimer on Lancaster DV 267, 101 Squadron, SR-K
KIA 19/20-2-44 on raid to Leipzig

This aircraft was one of 109 from an order for 200 from Metropolitan Vickers built as Lancaster BIII with Merlin 28 engines and delivered between May and November 1943

Crew:
Pilot: W/O LAURENS John  171908 DFM
Buried in Leek (Tolbert) Protestant Cemetery, Row K Grave 2

Pilot2: Sgt KIBBLE W A G
POW – Prisoner No 3848 at Stalag Kopernikus

Engineer: F/Sgt BURTON  L
POW – Prisoner No 3843 at Stalag Kopernikus

Navigator: Sgt AITKEN R N
POW – Prisoner No 609 at Stalag Luft Bankau – Kreulberg

B/Aim: Sgt WAIGHT Cassian Henry – 172841
Buried in Noordijk Protestant Cemetery. Row 27 Grave 10

W/Op: Sgt DAVIES J A
POW – Prisoner No 698 at Stalag Luft Bankau – Kreulberg

AG: Sgt ROYSTONE A E
POW – Prisoner 1902 at Stalag Kopernikus

AG: Sgt BOLT William Frederick Donald 1587851
Buried in Leek (Tolbert) Protestant Cemetery, Row K Grave 1

Took off from Ludford Magna at 23:38. Crashed near Tolbert, 17 km WSW of Groningen, Holland. A report claims that Sgt Waight died from a broken neck, his body was discovered at Noordijk.

W/O Laurens immediate DFM was gazetted on 25/01/44

[Source: Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 5 1944 by W R Chorley]

In other source Listed as P/O, Wop/AG

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/11813844


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Source: Unknown publication, courtesy Nadia Cattouse via Audrey Dewjee]

Cassian Henry Waight: Remembrance Day in Noordwijk (the Netherlands)

A moving report of the Dutch Rememberance Day (May 4th) in the town of Noordwijk. The yearly commemoration includes a memorial service which honours Cassian Henry Waight and all the men and women who sacrificed their lives during the Second World War. The local people lay flowers at the grave of Mr. Waight and stand in silence as The Last Post is played.

[Movie by Idse van der Donk aka soopy movie on YouTube]

 

The Raid on Leipzig, 19/20 February 1944

Leipzig: 700.000 inhabitants, 5th biggest city of Germany, 12 aircraft factories, 8 machine and weapons factories, other war-related industries, including production of textiles and synthetic oil. Also one of the most important railway hubs of Central Germany.

Cassian Waight route to Leipzig - bare2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Route to/from Leipzig and diversionary attack on Berlin, 19/20 February 1944]

 

Among the attack force were 21 Lancasters of 101 Squadron. This unit was one of Britain’s special assets in the so-called ‘war of the airwaves’. It flew special Lancasters with a crew of eight, the extra man speaking German fluently. These ‘specials’ operated a receiver and a powerful transmitter. After picking up a German radio-communication between a ground-station and fighters in the air, the ‘special operator’ interfered and created confusion by broadcasting false information about the route of the attackers. These Lancasters also performed regular bombing missions. But since they were breaking radio-silence all the time, the were more exposed and likely to draw German attack-fighters. This squadron needed very good gunners.

One of the Lancasters of 101 Squadron did not return to their base Ludford Magna that night and came down in the northern part of the Netherlands. This aircraft, Lancaster DV267 ‘K for King’ had taken off at 23:38 with the usual crew of eight. At the base they were known as the ‘League of Nations Crew’, because they represented multiple nations.

Cassian Waight+crew

[The crew of Lancaster DV267 SR-K (K for King, 101 Squadron), known als ‘The League of Nations Crew’, ready to go on a mission. Cass Waight on the right. Picture taken at Ludford Magna]

 

The captain, Pilot Officer John Laurens DFM, 26 years old, tall, well-built and a native of Cape Town, South-Africa, was a peculiar mix of a practical joker and a serious human. After leaving school he went to sea. 18 Months later he went to England and joined the Grenadier Guards, where he served until he was wounded in Dunkirk in 1940. Then he applied for transfer to the RAF and was sent to Canada for his training. He received his ‘wings’ in 1943 and ended up at the helm of a heavy Lancaster on its way to Leipzig, his 20th mission.

Next to the skipper was the position of the 22 years old Flight Sergeant Leslie – ‘Crash’ to his friends – Burton, the navigator. A tall, quiet lad from Calverley in Yorkshire. He was one of the original crewmembers and also flew his 20th mission.

Sergeant Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Aitken, the blond bomb-aimer, came from Oldfield; he stood in for French-Canadian Sergeant Jacques Marchand, who had reported ill, and had flown only one mission with the crew of ‘K for King’.

Sergeant William Alexander George Kibble, the mechanic, was English as well. He came from Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

The radio-operator, Pilot Officer Cassian Henry Waight, came from Belize, British-Honduras.

The mid-upper gunner was Sergeant William Frederick Donald Bolt and Sergeant Albert Edward Royston from Darfield was the tail-gunner.

The eighth crew-member was Sergeant James Arthur ‘Jim’ Davies, the ‘Special’. A tall, slim and gifted bloke with a boyish face from Wales. He was also new in the crew and made his second operational flight that night. Concentrated he sat bent over his most secret apparatus, known to the few as the A.B.C. or ‘Air Borne Cigar’ and soon found himself talking to a German fighter-guiding officer on the ground.

On their way to Leipzig they were attacked near Oldenburg. Suddenly they heard a drum-roll like sound and the sky lit up by flames. When they noticed that the fuel tank in the port wing was on fire, they realised they had to return to base. They dropped their bombs and headed west. Burning parts of the wing fell of and they obviously weren’t going to make it to England, so they hoped they could ditch the plane in sea and escape in their dinghy. Not an inviting prospect in the cold of a Winter’s night. The fire was spreading however and Captain Laurens ordered the men to bail by parachute. Royston and Bolt had to use an axe to open the rear escape door, keeping Davies waiting to jump. Bolt did not survive the jump. Up front Aitken and Kibble struggled to open the little forward escape hatch. Burton helped the pilot to put on his parachute before attaching his own. He noticed Waight was not wearing his harness and ordered him to put it on, but couldn’t tell if the radio-operator heard him.

At that moment the port wing broke off causing the plane to spin and Burton fell on top of the two men in the front. In Burton’s own words: “When the wing broke off I had no hope of survival. I must have fallen into the narrow passage to the nose of the bomber. The front must have broken off from the fuselage, because I fell free from the airplane. For a brief moment I saw Cass Waight in the light of the flames, probably a meter or so away from me but he did not wear his parachute gear. I have never forgotten. We had had a pretty good time together, as far as that was possible in those days.”

Burton survived his fall and was rejoined with his comrade Kibble in the home of a Dutch family. Three other crew-members survived as well. Jim Davies and Ronnie Aitken were hidden by Dutch people, but Albert Royston was handed over to the police and arrested. Burton was later arrested in The Hague and ended up in a POW camp. Three men died that night: Don Bolt, Cass Waight and Captain Jack Laurens who tried to keep the Lancaster under control till the end.

Extraordinarily and unexplicable when Waight’s body was found near Noordwijk (more that 100 km to the southwest of his crashed Lancaster) his opened parachute was there right next to him.

[Source: Gevleugeld Verleden, Ab A. Jansen (a documentary about ±200 shot-down RAF airplanes and their crews above Holland), ISBN 90 235 8099 0; Read the original pages here: Cassian Waight – Gevleugeld Verleden Ab Jansen (in Dutch)]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WALLEN – E.E.L.

605632 – E.E.L. Wallen – Br. Honduras – attested 31.7.43 – Sgt. Navigator UK 25.6.44

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

SABIDO – William John

605631 – William John Sabido – Br. Honduras – attested 31.7.43 – P/O Wireless Operator/Air Gunner #5 OTU 28.7.44
165820 – P/O – commissioned 14.7.44

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

 

PINKS – Clifton Norman Rhys

605630 – C.N.R. Pinks – Br. Honduras – attested 31.7.43 – P/O Wireless Operator/Air Gunner #2 RC 5.12.44 – UK 18.12.44
165819 – P/O – commissioned 14.7.44

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

Flt. Lt. Clifton Norman Rhys Pinks (1923-2014)

Clifton Pinks was born in British Honduras (now Belize) on 6 February 1923. After leaving St. John’s College, he worked in the Civil Service.

In 1941, he volunteered to train as an officer in the Royal Air Force, based in Canada, and came to England in 1943 as a Signalman Air Gunner. After the war, he went to Aberdeen University to study medicine and was involved in top level athletics. The press alluded to Clifton as the ‘Dark Flash’.

He rejoined the Royal Air Force in 1950 and was involved in 1961 with experimental flying with V bombers – Victors, Valiants and Vulcans – at Farnborough. Also in 1961, he went back to Belize on the first plane with medical relief after Hurricane Hattie.

On retirement from the RAF in 1978, he became a courier for the Ministry of Defence, where he remained until 1988.  Between 1988 and 2000, Clifton represented Belize at Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League functions, meeting Nelson Mandela, Her Majesty the Queen, H.R.H. Prince Philip and others, as well as carrying the flag for Belize at the Royal Albert Hall for the Remembrance Service.

Clifton Pinks passed away on September 7, 2014, leaving his wife Margaret [whom he met at the Mecca Dance Hall in Manchester in September, 1945], five children, ten grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

During his life he had experience of extensive worldwide travel. His many achievements included being a Royal Air Force Welterweight Boxing Champion, Royal Air Force 100 yards and 220 years and Hop Skip and Jump Champion and Scottish Universities 100 yards and 220 yards Champion. He was also a basketball referee and Secretary for English and Royal Air Force Basketball Associations.

[Information taken from the order of service at the funeral of Flt. Lt. Pinks.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clifton Pinks and his wife-to-be Margaret Mary Tivey

YBARRO – Arturo Theodore

605629 – Arturo Theodore Ybarro – Br. Honduras – attested 31.7.43 – P/O Wireless Operator/Air Gunner #5 OTU 29.7.44
165818 – P/O – commissioned 14.7.44

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

 

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