Visitors to the forum may be interested to know that the grave of Fg Off Derek Allen DFC of 85 Squadron has been located in France.
Derek Allen was shot down on 18 May 1940 in the Neuvilly region of France and posted missing. Until now, no trace of him was ever found.
Whilst the story is long and convoluted (and will be told fully elsewhere in due course) the quest to find him began in 2007 with the investigation of a Hurricane crash site that it was thought may be connected to his loss. This investigation was, partly, at the behest of his family.
Whilst the investigation at the crash site did not directly resolve the question of his loss the MOD (Air Historical Branch) have investigated and researched the case that the 2007 investigations raised. This has been ongoing across the past three years and the MOD have now confirmed that the grave of an unknown airman buried nearby is that of Derek Allen since the burial has been linked to the crash of Hurricane P2555. It is known that Allen disappeared in this aircraft.
As a consequence of this, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have been instructed to replace the “unknown” stone with one bearing his name. I was speaking with Derek’s family yesterday who are absolutely delighted that 71 years later Derek has been found.
Derek’s war started on 10 May 1940 and lasted only until 18 May. During that time he had been shot down once (15 May) and spent one day trekking back to his squadron. He was then shot down and killed (missing) at about 06.30hrs on 18 May 1940. During his short war he achieved ‘ace’ status and was awarded the DFC. Had he survived it is highly likely that he would have been a household name and been up there with the top aces. Sadly, it is unlikely that very few will have ever known his name.
Hopefully, his name will now come to a little more well deserved prominence than has previously been the case.
By: Old Lass - 30th August 2011 at 00:13
Glad to hear Derek Allen has been given his name back. It is so sad that so many are still unknowns, well done to all concerned.
Ann
By: Old Lass - 30th August 2011 at 00:13
Glad to hear Derek Allen has been given his name back. It is so sad that so many are still unknowns, well done to all concerned.
Ann
By: Arabella-Cox - 29th August 2011 at 08:57
Whilst passing through the region a couple of weeks ago whilst returning from a recovery project on the French/Belgian border I did a bit of a detour to photograph the current headstone to Derek Allen which will be replaced by a named stone in the coming months.
By: Arabella-Cox - 29th August 2011 at 08:57
Whilst passing through the region a couple of weeks ago whilst returning from a recovery project on the French/Belgian border I did a bit of a detour to photograph the current headstone to Derek Allen which will be replaced by a named stone in the coming months.
By: Arabella-Cox - 4th July 2011 at 13:59
The sad irony of this case is that another missing airman was found in the quest for Fg Off Allen.
This will result in another “unknown” airman being buried in a CWGC plot whilst another headstone to an “unknown” airman is replaced with one bearing Derek Allen’s name.
Its a convoluted story that will be told, all in good time. However, one mystery is solved as another opens up. However, if anyone can ever identify who was flying Hurricane P3533 on 18 May, or which squadron it was with, then that mystery might one day be solved.
By: Moggy C - 4th July 2011 at 07:22
As a consequence of this, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have been instructed to replace the “unknown” stone with one bearing his name.
That is wonderful news, congratulations to all concerned.
How I wish that one day this would come true for Frank Goodwin, my uncle, who was lost on the Somme and almost certainly lies under an ‘unknown’ headstone in Guillemont CWGC. But not having a serial numbered aircraft to tie him to I doubt it ever will.
RIP F/O Allen.
Moggy
By: MerlinXXII - 3rd July 2011 at 19:41
Thanks Andy. I will keep my eyes open for one although I have never seen one yet.
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd July 2011 at 19:38
Merlin XXII
When the CWGC published its registers county-by-county, region by region, or departement by departement it was quite easy to see which cemeteries contained “unknown” graves as they would be shown at the foot of each cemetery or churchyard listing thus: “Also in this cemetery lie three unknown airmen” etc etc etc. Now, the CWGC no longer publish those paper registers and its pretty much impossible to extract any meaningful data on this from the on-line CWGC site. Even the cemetery reports do not really help extract the sort of information one needs. I suppose thats progress!
If you can, get copies of old registers when they turn up!
By: MerlinXXII - 3rd July 2011 at 19:24
Hi Andy,
As has already been mentioned by many others on this thread, well done for this sterling work. I personally think that identifying those that lie under ‘unknown airmen’ markers is important and I share your opinion that many more are identifiable, albeit with an immense amount of work and dedication. In my experience with relatives of deceased airmen, the quest for information about a loved one has not diminished one bit with age or the passing of immediate family, there is a hunger for information from subsequent generations. One has only to look at the popularity of geneology (hope its spelt right!) these days. I am pleased that there are still an army of dedicated historian researchers who are only too willing to give up their time and knowledge in this pursuit.
Long may it continue!
Andy I mentioned before on another thread about listings of Commonwealth War Graves that are buried in plots marked as ‘Unknown Airmen’. You mentioned that there was a published list (from years ago) of all the plots and you may have had copies somewhere, did you mangage to find anything?
By: trumper - 3rd July 2011 at 16:16
:confused: Strange that,no DNA for our MOD but others do use it.
Thanks for all the work and replies 🙂
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd July 2011 at 15:33
Apart from in exceptional cases I don’t think the MOD are inclined to use the DNA route with identifications although it is a metter of course with the Americans, for example. An exception has been the Fromelles discoveries, although they are principally Commonwealth soldiers and that i/d process has been led by the Australians, I believe.
By: trumper - 3rd July 2011 at 14:55
An even bigger congratulations,pure theory and detective work,well done. 🙂
Is DNA proving to be more and more important/reliable in the cases not able to be solved by the information available in the more obscure cases?.
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd July 2011 at 14:50
This case is not DNA related. Just old fashioned deduction and detective work!
By: trumper - 3rd July 2011 at 14:47
🙂 Well done all involved and a R I P at last.With the improvements in DNA i hope alot more remains may be identified.
By: ian_ - 3rd July 2011 at 14:05
A very satisfactory result Andy. Looking forward seeing/reading the full story.
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd July 2011 at 13:35
There are certainly a good many, still, who rest under headstones marked to an unknown airman of WW2.
With time and work a number of those cases are almost certainly still identifiable.
The reaction of the Allen family is illustration enough that it is still important.
By: kev35 - 3rd July 2011 at 13:06
One at a time is better than none at all. Whilst we can perhaps guess that, as thread starter, Andy has probably had some input into this case, I think it is beholden to all of us to extend our congratulations and gratitude to all those involved in ensuring that Derek Allen can finally rest under a named headstone.
Perhaps the work of the MRES/MREU just before the end and after World War Two serves as both a model and an inspiration for those who continue to strive to identify the fallen that, seventy years or so hence, still remain unknown.
Regards,
kev35
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd July 2011 at 12:36
There will be more news/information on this in due course.
By: roadracer - 3rd July 2011 at 12:02
Brilliant news, delighted that another one of those great men has “come home” !
As Cees says only one gone out of the thousands ! I wonder how many more could be identified if there was a detailed examination and correlation of the records that are now available?
By: CeBro - 3rd July 2011 at 11:21
Good show,
Another one stricken from the list, a few thousand still to go:o
Cees
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July 3, 2011 at 8:13 am