Help needed!!! :)

thank you all for your help! I am not sure if we will ever know who he was.

keith (xv473) I think you do know the account, it was very upsetting indeed and must have been awful for the guy. I think it was Lancaster Wars 2(?).

Just to further muddy the waters, the ‘missing’ person could have been recovered later, ie after Missing Research & Enquiry Unit investigations post 1944 and after MI9 questioning of the prisoner once returned post 1945.

That would raise the possibilty of 5 crew members being buried together and the 6th man buried either elsewhere in France or elsewhere in the same cemetery (if the crew were later taken to one of the larger collection cemeteries).

Hi kat_hamps,
I have checked through my Avro Lancaster database using the criteria of five buried in France, one missing and one PoW. There are no matches in 1943, but there is a match in the winter of 1942 and another in the summer of 1944. From the latter is the following;
The survivor was F/Sgt John Eric PRICE. RAFVR. He became a PoW in Stalag Luft 7, Bankau, nr Kreuzberg, Poland.
The missing airman was P/O Dennis LANGFORD, DFC. RAFVR. From Portsmouth, Hants. Is this your man?
If you require further details, please let me know.
Regards, Doug.

Hi kat_hamps,i am working on this too,i will try to do my best for you,the reason being I am reasonably confident I have read this account too,and i remember it being quite moving and upsetting (can’t imagine what it was like for the chap concerned),I have been looking through my library but dont know where to start,do you have the title of the book where the account came from?

best wishes,

keith (xv473).

that is what I am hoping!! I have now made a list of all those that came down in 1943 with one POW I am now trying to cross ref with the camps they were taken too and if they were in Poland…I will keep you posted and send the list.

Thanks again,

Ok.

If we assume that what you believe is in fact correct, and let’s face there is no reason why iy shouldn’t be, there are clues.

We’re looking at 1943.

Lancasters down over France.

Six dead, one PoW.

Of the six dead, one has no known grave.

The PoW must have been icarcerated in Poland.

When you look at it like that, it has to narrow the field considerably.

Regards,

kev35

thanks for the starting point.

Too be honest we know very little indeed and we are not entirley just what we do know is the truth. The information comes from an account in a book where the POW is telling his story and he wished to remain ANON and he wishes the crew member that was missing as ANON as well. I am not sure what the connection is or why my dad is trying to find his name I have not asked yet as a lot of his dads research is upsetting as it is bringing back a lot of memories of my grandfather and the horrors he saw and went through and never got over.

I have just been to my dads to collect the notes I had started making, at the moment I am going on the bases that the facts are true, on that note I have about 88 dates of Lancasters that went down in 1943 with 6 dead and 1 POW…. I will PM the list and see what we get.

I am hoping for a miracle!

Thanks for the help so far!

That is going to be difficult if not impossible to achieve. If you don’t mind I’d like to establish some background.

How do you know for sure it was a Lancaster?

How do you know it was definitely 1943?

Do you know which Squadron this crew came from?

Trawling through Chorley must have taken some time and effort. All I can suggest is taking each loss in turn and putting it through the following databases.

http://www.lostbombers.co.uk/

http://www.hut-six.co.uk/cgi-bin/search39-47.php

I would try the second one first, search by the date of each loss and it will lead you to the CWGC database which will identify who has a known grave. You’re looking for a crew which has five known graves, one PoW and one missing. That might narrow down your search.

If you PM me your list from Chorley I would be happy to help you take a look.

Regards,

kev35