RAF war graves on Öckerö, near Gothenburg, Sweden

My sister and I, and our husbands, have just made a family pilgrimage to the island of Öckerö. A few years ago we made the discovery that our uncle was buried there. Our father had always spoken about Leslie (Robert Leslie Sinclair Ritchie), his big brother, and we are familiar with boyhood tales of them digging tunnels in the garden to sneak through to a neighbour’s; rigging a buzzer system on the bottom step of the stairs to alert them that an adult was coming up the stairs and they had to stub out their cigarettes and open their window to get the smoke out; and we were particularly proud of the fact that Dad claimed he invented an automatic gearbox!  Our dad spoke more of his brother than his dad. We promised ourselves we would make the trip to pay our respects to our uncle. Then Covid got in the way. But, this week, we made it and found a beautiful graveyard with beautiful monument to the fallen servicemen. Our uncle Leslie’s headstone does not have an epitaph nor his age. We are not sure why this is. He was 26 when he died. He was born in Edinburgh and grew up in the leafy suburb of Joppa. He went to the Royal High School and the attached photograph is from the school’s Roll of Honour book which lists every pupil who served his country in 1939-45. This is the best photo we have of him. We received quite a bit of information from the Wyckenby Museum. Leslie, an airman of 12 Squadron, flew all his missions out of RAF Binbrook, but 12 Squardron moved to Wyckenby in September 1942 when it was completed. His crew took part in 16 operations together – imagine what close pals they must have become! P/O: Rowe D. W.; Nav: Sgt. Ritchie R. L.S.; W/Op: Sgt. Graves L. M. D.; F. Gunner: Sgt. Sharp A.; R Gunner: Sgt. Black C.  They flew together on: 2 missions in May 1942, 2 in June, 7 in July, 5 in August. On our visit this week, we arranged for the local priest to say a few words with us at the graveside and we have left a wreath of summer flowers. His sacrifice, and those of his comrades, will never be forgotten.

What a wonderful and heart breaking thread .All young men R I P Thank you.

12 Sqd Leslie Douglas Graves was my mum’s older brother.  He was just 19 yrs old when lost during this operation, with his body never being recovered.  The emblem for Sqd 12 is a fox and we remember him by putting fox decorations on our Christmas tree every year ♥️  He was dearly missed by his mother Elsie and his sister Maisie (my Mum) who are sadly no longer with us.  I now have his photos and I try to keep his memory alive within our family.  God rest their souls x

I’ve just started working down in Gothenburg. I might have to try and pop by and take a look myself.

What a great thread.

Nice to see people still care……………

Arc

Hello, Sally, very nice to hear from you. Ivan would have been alone, as all photo reconnaissance Spitfires were single-seaters with the guns removed to make room for cameras. If you send me your E-mail address in a Personal Message (PM) on this web site I can send you a high resolution photograph of the three graves (suitable for an A4 size print), which are beside each other, and have daffodils blooming in front of them.
I shall certainly pass on your message to the church people in Öckerö next time I visit the island; I go there quite often, but we are just now in the middle of winter with much snow and ice, so it’s not really the time.
Best regards,
Papa Lima

Ivan Cooper

Hi, Ivan Cooper was my mother’s brother – my mother told me that he was in England (From South Africa) studying Agriculture when war was declared and enlisted – she thought that he was alone in a Spitfire when he was shot down as he was photograhing the area – the plane was too full of cameras for him to have a gunner on board. Is this probable? I visited the Ockera with my parents in 1975 – my mother seeing her only brother’s grave site for the first and only time – I returned in 1976 to plant flowers on the British graves – as my mother was distressed that there were none. During that visit, I met a lady teacher, who lived on the island, she assured me that she would try to keep the flowers alive and tell the wonderful people of the island that although we could not visit the graves often that the deceased were always remembered. “Go well” on Ivan’s headstone is a direct translation from Zulu. My mother passed away 5 years ago and I promised her that I would always remember to pass down her brother’s story to my children and grandchildren and if possible, keep the flowers blooming on his grave! Their mother was a farmer who loved flowers! I am married to an Australian and live on the Gold Coast, Queensland, and hope that one day one of my children will visit Ockero and keep the flowers blooming! So if you ever return to Ockero, please could you tell the church people that Ivan is still remembered.
Many Thanks, Regards, Sally Woods

I have corrected the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website link in Post#2 , apologies for that . Their casualty search facility is excellent and worth adding to your favourites list . See here ;

http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

Many thanks, David and Archieraf, I have been wondering about those for 30 years (I lived on Öckerö near to the churchyard 30 years ago!)

Hi PL, don’t have much but a few additional bits to add to what you know:-

Pilot Officer I.B. Cooper, Pilot Royal Air Force
9th June 1941 Age 20
Go well, may our prayers lighten your way. God grant your sacrifice be not in vain.
Ivan Brian Cooper RAFVR (61289) PRU. Son of Brian & Ruth Doris Cooper of Merrivale, Natal, South Africa.
———————————————————————–

1053550 Flight Sergeant R.L.S. Ritchie, Observer Royal Air Force
18th August 1942
Robert Leslie Sinclair Ritchie RAFVR 12 Squadron.

1109186 Sergeant J.A. Sharp Wireless Op/Air Gunner Royal Air Force
18th August 1942 Age 21
They hold the heights they won
John Anthony Sharp RAFVR 12 Squadron. Son of Harold Hodgson Sharp and Nora Farr Sharp of Chester.

*12 Squadron Wellington II Z8538 PH-) Bar took off Binbrook 2035 18th August 1942 on op to Flensburg. Presumed lost over the sea. Three bodies were washed ashore. F/Sgt Ritchie and Sgt Sharp are buried in Ockerö, while Sgt Black, formerly of the Cheshire Regiment, rests in Frederikshaven Cemetery, Denmark. The others have no known grave:
P/O D W Rowe
F/Sgt R L S Ritchie
Sgt L D Graves
Sgt J A Sharp
Sgt C Black
* Source RAF Bomber Command Losses by W R Chorley Vol 3
————————————————————————–
411230 Sergeant J.C. Williams Air Gunner Royal N.Z. Air Force
18th August 1942 Age 21
John Charles RNZAF. Son of Henry James Williams & Lily Eliza Williams of Wellington City, New Zealand.
Also two airmen of the 1939-1945 war, Royal Air Force
Known unto God

Pilot Officer R.P. McLaren, Pilot Royal Canadian Air Force
18th August 1942 Age 22
Calmly and grandly, silently and deep, life joined eternity
Robert Perrin McLaren (J15748) RCAF 57 Squadron. Son of Robert Kennedy McLaren and Clara A McLaren of Princeton, Ontario, Canada.

**Tuesday 18th August 1942. Raid on Flensburg, Germany by 118 aircraft – 4 lost)
57 Squadron RAF Feltwell, Norfolk
Wellington III X3371/G took off at 2040 captained by P/O R P McLaren, RCAF, and lost without trace, the navigator and wireless operator being commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. The body of the captain and rear gunner were later recovered and are buried on the Swedish island of Öckerö. That of the air bomber washed ashore onto the German island of Sylt, at Kampen, and was buried at List but later reinterred at Kiel.
P/O R P McLaren (Captain)
Sgt Hector John Wakeman RNZAF (Air Bomber) – 3rd op
P/O Kivell Harold William Alderton RNZAF (W/Op) – 3rd op
Sft John Charles Williams RNZAF (Rear Gunner) – 3rd op
** Source For Your Tomorrow by Errol W Martyn
NB: the full crew is not listed for Wellington X3371/G

The additonal information provided which does not come from Chorley or Martyn is obtained from a 1955 print of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission register. It notes “In the churchyard 7 airmen are buried in a collective grave. 5 belong to the RAF (two being unidentified by name), 1 to the RCAF and 1 to the RNZAF. There are also in the churchyard the graves of 2 unidentifed naval ratings of the 1914-18 war”

Hope that helps
archieraf

Cooper ; Spitfire X4496 of 1PRU crashed on Ockero , cause unknown .

McLaren and Williams ; Wellington X3371/DX-G of 57 Squadron , presumed to have come down in the sea and their bodies were washed ashore .

Ritchie and Sharp ; Wellington Z8538/PH-O of 12 Squadron , tragically the same circumstances as the crew above and the same target , Flensburg .

The bodies of two airmen from each of the Wellington crews were never recovered and are remembered on the Runnymede Memorial whilst one other from X3371 , the Air Bomber Hector Wakeman RNZAF , is buried in Kiel War Cemetery .

Please see ; www.cwgc.org for fuller details on burials .