605561 – L.A. Pounder – Trinidad – attested 7.4.43 – Sgt. Pilot UK 30.3.44

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

The following story and photo’s are provided by Mark Johnson (author of Caribbean Volunteers at War), following an interview with David Pounder in 2013.

Navigator Lyndon Pounder, from Trinidad, flew in Lancasters with 149 Sqn RAF Bomber Command. Between 01 and 07 May, 1945, he participated in ‘Operation Manna’, which dropped thousands of tons of food supplies to the starving Dutch population from heights as low as 150 feet. He referred to these as ‘Spam drops’ over Holland, and he later described his experiences to his son David:

“On Tuesday May 1^st1945, my aircraft, Lancaster HK 654 of No. 149 Squadron, RAF, took off from Methwold, carrying our crew and 6,404 pounds of food supplies on an errand of mercy, our destination, a field in The Hague. Once over the dropzone, Flying Officer Story flew as low as practicable and the crew  hurled the food packages out of the bomb bay doors. On this flight I was the navigator, and Iclearly remember seeing a young man speeding across the field on his bicycle, grabbing a package and waving at me as he pedalled off.

“In the early 1950s, I attended a teacher’s conference near London, when to my utter surprise a Dutchman came up to me and insisted we had met before. Once I had composed myself and trawled my memory, the episode of five years earlier began to slowly return to me. It then emerged that this Dutchman,by the name of Rudi Marcus, had been the young man on the bicycle who had snaffled theparcel from the food drop, and he clearly remembered me smiling and waving at him. I suppose the picture of a West Indian airman waving from the bomb bay doors of a RAF Lancaster must have impressed itself on the memory of the young Rudi Marcus. Just as extraordinary perhaps, is the fact that we should later end up teaching in the same school and remain friends for the rest of our lives.”

605482 – C.W. Graham – Trinidad – attested 28.7.42 – P/O A/B UK 9.3.43
151241 – F/O – commissioned 19.2.43

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

605478 – J.G. Swan – Trinidad – attested 28.7.42 – Sgt. Air Bomber UK 9.3.43
54697 – F/O (W) – commissioned 26.4.44

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

Flight Engineer latter part ww2. [rank unknown]

Born 1925. Qualified as a Barrister after war; poet (The Mystic Rose, Magpie Press 1969), painter and film script-writer.
[Source: CG]

Name: BERNAL, STANLEY HOPE
Initials: S H
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Leading Aircraftman
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Date of Death: 11/03/1946
Service No: 713063
Additional information: Of Jamaica.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: 22. E. 12.
Cemetery: BROOKWOOD MILITARY CEMETERY

[Source: www.WW2chat.com]

Name: ROTHER, LOUIS ANTHONY
Initials: L A
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant (W.Op./Air Gnr.)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Age: 29
Date of Death: 25/10/1943
Service No: 1399303
Additional information: Son of Carl Robert and Emperatriz Rother, of Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Grave 1240.
Cemetery: LOSSIEMOUTH BURIAL GROUND

[Source: www.WW2chat.com]

1382705 – Sergeant – RAFVR
Trade/Branch:   Obs
Squadron(s): 156
Station/Unit/Ship: Alconbury
Group: 3     Command:   Bomber
Nationality: Trinidad
Disposal:   KIA   Age  23  yrs   Date Died:    7 Jul 1942
Aircraft: Wellington III  X3345

The aircraft took off from Alconbury on Monday 6 Jul 1942 at 2359hrs to lay mines in French waters off Lorient and crashed in the target area. Op. Gardening. Ten aircraft took off, two failed to return. Crew: Sgt A F Galley (Pilot); Sgt W G Roddy RCAF (Obs); Sgt J D L Heddle (W. Op.); Sgt K J Alexander (Gnr); FS G C Barrie (Gnr) ; & Sgt Attwater and crew.

Buried At: Lorient (Kerentrech) Communal Cemetery
Grave/Memorial : Plot 62. Row C. Grave 4
Next of Kin: son of Matthias and Louisa Alexander, of Port of Spain, Trinidad

[Source(s): 156Sqn.com; ww2chat.com/cxx and Trinidad Guardian 11 Feb 1943: Article was request to locate the relatives of Alexander, who was a former employee of the Trinidad Guardian]

Name: ALEXANDER, KENNETH JOSEPH
Initials: K J
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sergeant (Obs.)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Unit Text: 156 Sqdn.
Age: 23
Date of Death: 07/07/1942
Service No: 1382705
Additional information: Son of Matthias and Louisa Alexander, of Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 62. Row C. Grave 4.
Cemetery: LORIENT (KERENTRECH) COMMUNAL CEMETERY

Alexander was lost on the following raid:
6/7 July 1942 – 156 Squadron.
Wellington III X3345
Op. Gardening.

http://www.caribbeanaircrew-ww2.com/index.php?s=Alexander&Submit=Search

[Source: www.WW2chat.com]

Air Commodore – Pilot – Was Captain in RFC (Royal Flying Corps) during WW1, In Admin Branch during WW2, Retired 1944, called ‘pops’

[Source: CMHA]

Flight Lieutenant – Pilot

Flt Lt in Jan 45. Instructor in Canada

Nov 1940 Tobago

[Source: CMHA]

605477 – E. Scheult – Trinidad – attested 28.7.42 – P/O Pilot UK 23.11.44
136411 – F/L – commissioned 4.12.42

[Source: NA AIR 2/6876]

RN FAA – Pilot

[Source: CMHA]