1397358 – Richard Gore Amory – British Guiana (Guyana) – Flight Sergeant – 100 Sqn RAF – KIA
Service Number: 1397358
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 100 Sqdn.
Date of Death: Died 21 July 1944 (navigator on Lancaster ND413)
Age 22 years old
Buried or commemorated at Cambridge City Cemetery, United Kingdom – Grave 14169.
Son of Arthur Alexander and Ellen Louisa Amory, of Georgetown, British Guiana.
Circumstances of death http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=715: Lancaster III, ND413 took off 2355 20 July 1944 from Grimsby to bomb railway facilities in tactical support of the Normandy Battle Area. Homebound emerged from low cloud and crashed 0330 21 July 1944 at Aylesby 6 miles W of Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire.
[Courtesy AD]
1811267 – Victor Emmanuel Crane – British Guiana [Guyana] – enlisted Euston after December 1941
Entry in Personalities Caribbean4thed. states:
https://guyaneseonline.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/personalitiescaribbeanfourthedition19701971269308.pdf [accessed 27/11/2020]
CRANE, Victor Emanuel, L.L.B. (Lond.); Judge, Court of Appeal since 1968; Editor 2nd Edition Law of Unlawful Possession etc. BornSept. 18, 1919, Georgetown, Guyana, son of Sir Alfred Crane and his wife Mildred E. neeGarrat, both dec’d. EducatedQueen’s Coll., Middle Temple, Univ. Coll., London. Religion:Church of England. MarriedFeb. 11, 1955, Stella Doreen neeBellamy: 2 sons, 2 daus. (Colin & Edward, Maureen & Ann). Career: Entered Civil Service, Treasury Dept. 1940-42; R.A.F. Canada and England 1942-46; Read Law at Middle Temple and Univ. Coll., Lond. 1946-49; admitted to practice at the St. Lucia Bar 1949; admitted to practice at the Guyana Bar 1949; apptd. Magistrate 1953; transferred to Nigeria 1956; Chief Magistrate Nigeria 1957-63; held acting appts. of Director of Public Prosecutions and Puisne Judge in Nigeria; re-transferred to Guyana as Puisne Judge, May 1963. Address: Court ofAppeal, High St., Georgetown, (home) 13 Fifth Ave., Subryanville, Demerara, Guyana.
[Photo: Courtesy Verity Crane (via Bill Hern)]
1390726 – Celso Lima de Freitas – Warrant Officer
Celso de Freitas joined the Royal Air Force in 1940, and went into action as· a Sergeant-Observer. He took part in the now famous thousand-bomber raids on Cologne and Essen, and during a similar raid on Hamburg his plane was one of those which failed to return. On the way home both engines on one side of the giant bomber were shot away, and the pilot had to make a crash landing. The crew were badly shaken, but managed to get out of their plane and set it on fire; they were taken prisoner only a few miles from the coast.
[Source: Saint Stanislaus Magazine, april 1943] Read more
He was one of the first to sign up from BG. His brother Arlindo de Freitas also signed up shortly afterwards.
Celso is one of the unfortunate prisoners of war who have been put in chains, and in a recent letter he speaks of the new experience of receiving Holy Communion in chains.
Mr. De Freitas was second only to South African, Billy Wade, in cricket batting averages in the POW camps and his style was later compared to Sir Colin Cowdrey. Cricket was going on in the POW camps as exercise and territorial rivalries led to informal “Tests”. He is mentioned on pages 86/87 of this fascinating document which is a great read. https://www.lamsdorf.com/uploads/6/4/2/7/6427590/cricket.pdf
Celso was head of the British Guiana Volunteer Force (as its Lieutenant Colonel) in the run up to Guyanese independence. His small volunteer corps played a major role in quelling and preventing the political rioting which led up to the independence elections. He received an OBE (Mil) – a military OBE – for his efforts.
[Courtesy: Paul de Freitas]
Aircrew of No.15 Squadron in front of Short Stirling I, December 1941. Celso de Freitas is last row, second from left. (Click to enlarge)
[Source: History of War]
Flight Sgt Navigator, 1397411, flying Mosquito no 739, when he crashed (there may have been a change to his service no after his commision)
Frederick Thomas WESTON was born on the 9th November 1908. He was educated at Cardiff University gaining B.A Hons in French and Education. He served as assistant master at Wallingford grammar school before being appointed as Master at Queen’s College Georgetown where he remained for 6 years.Known as”Taffy” and described as”the greatest all rounder” the College ever had. During his time at Queens he introduced swimming sports revived boxing and became Scoutmaster to the 27th Q.C.scouts. He also became Commisioner for Scouts for Guyana,served on the Boxing Board of Control and became Scout Commisioner for Guyana and represented Guyana at rugby football. He left Guyana in 1941 to return to Britain to serve with the RAFVR in WW2. Throughout his service he wore the British Guyana name on the shoulder of his uniform,wearing it on the day that his plane crashed killing him and his pilot Barney Joblin on 31st August 1943. It was always his intention to return to Guyana after the war to further his carreer at Queens. The pupils and staff at Queens bestowed on him the great honour of naming one of the new school houses after him,”Weston House”. Although not a native Guyanese he carried Guyana in his heart to the grave.
[Source: Fred Weston]
J/88359 – P/O – Oscar Leonard Harrington Harding – air bomber 433 Squadron – KIA 25/02/1944
RCAF Casualty List 1033 shows P/O Harding as hailing from Georgetown, British Guiana
Chorley’s 1944 BCL shows him as aircrew on a 433 Sqn Halifax lost on Schweinfurt 24/25 February, 1944
[Source: CWGC, RCAF Casuality List 1033, Chorleys’s; courtesy Alieneyes]
R/95750 – Desmond Michael De Silva – W/O – 218 Squadron – KIA 24/08/1943
[Sources: CWGC and RCAF Casualty List 0918 and Chorley’s; courtesy Alieneyes]
W/O De Silva DFM shows up with parents in Flushing, NY. RCAF Casualty List 0918, however, shows W/O Desmond Michael De Silva DFM as being from Georgetown, British Guiana.
CWGC says 218 Squadron but Chorleys has him lost as a rear gunner on a Stirling from No. 623 Squadron. Both list him as an American from Flushing Meadows, NY City.
RCAF Casualty List 0918 and Chorley’s
67642 – Thomas Reader Russel Wood – F/O – Pilot – 115 sqn – Welington – KIA 3.6.1942
WOOD Initials: T R Nationality: British Guiana Rank: Pilot Officer Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force
Sunday Guardian 14 June 1942:- PO T R Wood, son of the Hon’ble B R Wood of British Guiana, reported missing after Bremen raid on night June 4/5 1942. Sometime during Oct/Nov last year (1941), he injured his shoulder when forced to bail out after petrol supply ran out.
Possibly this Officer: WOOD, THOMAS READER RUSSELL Initials: T R R Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Flying Officer (Pilot) Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Unit Text: 115 Sqdn.Date of Death: 03/06/1942 Service No: 67642 Additional information: Wellington X3635 Airborne 2300 3 Jun 42 from Marham. Cause of loss and crash-site are not established. Four of those killed are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, but F/O Wood is buried in Becklingen War Cemetery. F/O T.R.R.Wood KIA Sgt J.W.Chapman RNZAF KIA Sgt L.J.Howe KIA Sgt M.J.M.Davies KIA P/O H.B.Pearce PoW Sgt B.F.Wischusen KIA P/O H.B.Pearce was interned in Camp L3, PoW No.556.Notice of award of DFC Gazetted London Gazeette 36108_3383/4 on 23 Jul 1943. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: 26. G. 12.Cemetery: BECKLINGEN WAR CEMETERY
1389078 – Kenneth Andrew Way – F/S -Pilot – 149 Sqn – Stirling III – KIA 4.4.1943
WAY, KENNETH ANDREW Initials: K A Rank: Sergeant (Pilot) Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Unit Text: 149 Sqdn. Date of Death: 04/04/1943 Service No: 1389078 Additional information: Of British Guiana. Stirling III R9327 OJ-M Op. Kiel Airborne 2039 4 Apr 43 from Lakenheath. Cause of loss not established. Crashed 2257 at Obbekaer, 7 km ENE of Ribe, Denmark. All are buried in Esbjerg (Fourfelt) Cemetery.Sgt K.A.Way KIA Sgt N.MacLeod KIA Sgt J.Palmer KIA Sgt R.G.Woodfield KIA Sgt R.P.Bilham KIA Sgt E.G.King KIA Sgt W.E.Norman KIA Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: AIII. 7. 8. Cemetery: ESBJERG (FOURFELT) CEMETERY,DENMARK
1898688 – BRAITHWAITE – Eustace Edward Adolphus Ricardo – British Guiana [Guyana]
The online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography lists him as “Braithwaite, Eustace Edward Adolph Ricardo [known as E. R. Braithwaite]”, but he enlisted in the RAF as Eustace Adolphus Braithwaite, at Euston [London], early in 1943.
[courtesy AD]
Edward Ricardo Braithwaite, writer, teacher and diplomat, born 27 June 1912; died 12 December 2016.
[Source: the Guardian, obituary]
RAF Pilot from Guyana
[Source: Wikipedia]
E. R. Braithwaite, the author of “To Sir With with Love” (a book remembered for its film and theme song) was a pilot with the RAF
[Source: forum.keypublishing.com]
A group of colored RAF-officers. Front row, from left: [1] unknown, from Jamaica or Belize; [2] Dusty Miller, from Guyana; [3] S/L Corbett (liason); [4] Ulric Cross, from Trinidad; [5] Johnny Smythe, from Sierra Leone; [6] Vivian Rivero, from Trinidad; (previously erroneously identified as: Mark Walker, from Trinidad);
Second row from left: [1] E.A. Gordon from Jamaica; [4] Percy Massiah, from Trinidad; [5] possibly his brother C.A. Massiah from Trinidad; [6] Vivian Thomas from Manchester, Jamaica; [7] Jellicoe Scoon from Grenada. Third row from left: [1] E.R Braithwaite from Guyana? The rest are as yet unknown to us. We invite our visitors to share the names of any person they recognise. [Names courtesy P.L.U. Cross a.o.; Photograph courtesy Audrey Elcombe, copyright unknown – click to enlarge]
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