Researching a WWII family casualty

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corned

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While this is a quite personal story, I am posting here in case it is a. of interest to anyone, and b. if it helps/inspires anyone else to do the same for a member of their own family.

It is going to be quite a long post, so please bear with me.

My great uncle (my maternal grandmother's younger brother) was RAF bomber aircrew in the War. He and his aircraft were lost on a mission and that was that. I knew very little of this because the family never liked to elaborate on the incident much.

However, the internet has made a few things possible, and recently (about 10-11 months ago) I decided to do some investigating. All I had to go on was his name (I'll come to that later), his job (Navigator), and his 'steed' (Vickers Wellington).

With the help of my 'other' home - an aviation forum this time - I set about the task.

Less than two hours later I knew infinitely more about my great uncle, and the events of his death, than I had been able to gather in the previous 42 years. I was staggered. And very, very moved.

I learned that his real name was different to the name I knew him by. I learned that he was not a Navigator. But I learned so much more, and I have also made several news friends/acquaintances along the way.

A week today, I (and my family) are going on a long weekend to Belgium to see the places which are involved in this story. To say that I can't wait is an understatement, but there is also somewhat a feeling of trepidation too.

Actually, I think, in order to keep this simple, that if anyone would like me to go into more detail about what I did, and what I managed to discover, then please do post and let me know. I am not suggesting doing it this way as a test of my popularity :p, rather that I would prefer to avoid posting unnecessarily if it is of little general interest.
 
My Father did a lot of this sort of research, although we had a lot of documentation and history anyway. I find it fascinating so post away!

My Great Great Grandfather had 5 sons go to the first world war, all came back. So he errected this in Newcastle as a 'thankyou'

'First Response'
RenwickMemorial.jpg
 
Thanks, chaps.

Wow Chattonmill - 5 out and all 5 back? In the Great War? That is truly remarkable. And heart-warming.

Well, my story starts with the information stated above, and a post I made on the aviation forum for help in tracking down details about fallen family servicemen. The replies I received were very useful.

The first reply gave me a link to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and a note to say that a search on there would be a good place to start. It was, but it also highlighted the first problem for me.

My great uncle was called Theo Hindley. Only he wasn't, quite. I searched for "T Hindley" in the RAF, in WWII, with no results. Fortunately his name is uncommon enough to have just searched on "Hindley" and got few enough results back to trawl through. There I found "James Theodore Hindley", Sgt, 429 Sqn RCAF, service number, date of death (23 June 1943), place of rest. Fantastic!

I also received a link to a site called "Lost Bombers"http://www.lostbombers.co.uk which is a remarkable site and a wealth of information. I could now search on there with a date, and an aircraft type. I found two results, one of which was HF-457. Wellington MkX. Included was the full crew list and what happened to them. I will post a link here to that page as I think it is quite illustrative.

Now I know where they were going, where from, on which night, in which aircraft, and in particular, who the perpetrator was! I couldn't believe the amount of information available!

Part 2 to follow - I need a quick break!
 
The details so far:

Sgt James Theo Hindley, Sgt in 429 Sqn RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) - even though he was a Brit. Actually he was the only Brit on board. The other four were Cannucks.

So I now know that he is buried in Heverlee War Cemetery, near Leuven. I also know which plot number. I also know that two of his comrades survived. In fact, there is a suspicion that one may well be still alive today, but my efforts to make contact with him so far have proved unfruitful. Not that this will stop me trying!

There is also a memorial in the town of Houthalen which mentions HF-457. This is because Houthalen was where they were shot down. The 'perp', Hans Autenreith, was a German 'Ace' and he survived the war. I have been able to find out quite a lot of information on him, too. He actually died in 1996, and believe it or not, I have his widow's and his son's addresses and phone numbers. I haven't yet plucked up the courage to make contact, as I obviously don't know if they would be receptive to such things.

Autenreith was based at an airfield in Sint Truiden (to use it's Flemish name). This is where one of my acquaintances lives, as his interest is in the history of the airfield, which incidentally is still active for private flying purposes. The three bodies were initially buried here after recovery by German forces. They were given full military honours burials. Later, they were re-interred at Heverlee when the CWGC built the dedicated cemetery there.

Time for a picture. My great uncle Theo:

Theo.jpg
 
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An acquaintance from the aviation forum had a colleague who lives in Belgium, and this chap actually went over to Heverlee to find, on my behalf, my uncle's grave.

Thus:

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The power of the internet! Amazing.

So this is a sight I hope to see next week. I can't really imagine how I will feel at that point. Clearly I never met him, yet he is family. No one alive today ever saw him face to face. He was 21 when he died.

The remaining information I found was equally interesting. I found some 429 Sqn records online, including details which quite upset and depressed me, yet also fascinated me. For example, not only do I know the airframe details, but I know precisely what bomb load they were carrying, i.e. how many 1000lb-ers, 500lb-ers and incendiaries there were on board. Each airframe had a different mix of loads, which is interesting.

It became apparent that Theo was regrettably one of the many airmen who never returned from their first mission. That stark fact was quite difficult to take on board at first. Actually, the records show that he was actually up on the previous evening, but the aircraft developed mechanical trouble on the way out and had to return to base. They went up the following night in a different airframe, and we all now know what fate awaited them. Both missions were to the Ruhr - or "Happy Valley" as it was euphemistically named. So he got the raw end of things right from the off.

The final titbits of information on this story are again very personal ones. It is funny (not in a humourous manner) how family affairs are entangled in warfare. Let me expand. My great grandmother - Theo's mother - was German. Her son fought the Germans in the British armed forces. What must that have been like to come to terms with? And my grandmother never, ever, spoke about the war - with good reason: not only did she lose a brother fighting against the Germans, but she also lost a close cousin, a German, fighting the Allies. No one these days could possibly imagine what that must have been like.

That is my story. Next Friday we go to Belgium to look around the sites which are of special family interest. I will be happy to post on here if I find anything else of interest which adds value to the story.

If anyone reading this wishes to know the details of the websites and other official means of obtaining information about their family members lost in the wars, then please PM me and I will be more than happy to assist.
 
Great story Corned.
I work for the British Forces Broadcasting Services, and have limited access to several military archives, so if I can help in anyway, I'd be pleased to make some enquiries.

Good luck with your continued search.
 
Actually I forgot to mention...

429 Sqn were based at this time at RAF East Moor which is approximately half way between York and Thirsk. I have been there to have a look around. Although the airfield was closed straight after the war, it is still very recognisable as an airfield. Google Earth is very useful sometimes! The nearby village of Sutton-in-the-Forest has a memorial to the three RCAF squadrons which were based there. I'll see if I can find a picture...

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This is a close-up, but not so clear because of the light...
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You can make out the bison - 429 Sqn was 'Bison Squadron'.
 
The Germans, in general, are bemused but not amused at the British obsession with WW2. For them it is over, they have rebuilt their country and they are trying to get on with being, for the most part, Europeans. You can try to contact the family but they might wonder what on earth you are up to.
I have a German wife and there are plenty of stories form both sides of the family about relatives who were lost, including one with a posthumous MM on the beach at Normandy and others at Stalingrad.
This is not a taboo subject in Germany, they are just not that interested.
 
Yes, I know what you mean. That is why I haven't attempted contact yet, and I'm not remotely sure I ever will.

One of my Belgian contacts knew them, but said that the family had in previous years been quite angry about the number of people who had come calling. Apparently, his own personal records of his service were very detailed, and were quite well known about. Therefore several trophy hunters and Nazi memorabilia hunters had been in touch to try to persuade them to sell his records to them. You can imagine how impressed the family were. :doh:

At least I can distance myself from that particular crowd, but I am not sure what is to be gained now. The only thing I had in mind was something very specific. Obst Lt Autenrieth had photos of some of his 'kills', and my great uncle's aircraft is known to be one of the photographed ones. Now this may sound a little ghoulish, but I don't see it that way. I would really quite like to see that photograph. No other photos of his aircraft are known to exist.

Anyway, only a couple of days to go now...
 
I can understand where the German's are coming from with regard to WWII, especially as history is always written by the victor, but I still think it's very important that people should make the effort to remember - and document socially - such a cataclysmic event.

If you want to see a graphic depiction of how differently the major protagonists commemorate those who were lost in European conflicts (and I know these sites are WWI, not WWII) then I'd suggest a visit first to Tyne Cot Allied Cemetary then drive about 40 minutes to the Langemarck German Cemetary, both on the Ypres Salient. Both are extremely moving but the contrast between their presentation of a similar human tragedy is stark.
 
Long-overdue update

The trip went very well, and surpassed all my expectations.

The Houthalen cemetery was the first place we visited, as it was the one I was least confident of finding what I was looking for. After half an hour wandering round (it is quite a large cemetery, plus I had no idea what we were looking for) we found this:

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This monument was erected in 2004, which quite shocked me. I presume it was something done by the locals to commemorate 60 years following the liberation, but I don't know that for a fact.

Then on to Heverlee Cemetery where I finally got to meet my Great Uncle:

Photo058.jpg


This cemetery was everything you would expect it to be. Calm, quiet, but most importantly, well looked-after. Everything was clean, cared-for, and in its place. Very emotional!

Finally, we visited the aerodrome at St Truiden, and met one of the Belgian chaps I had been corresponding with. Not much to see there these days, so I won't post any meaningless pictures! But I will post a picture which my correspondent sent to me subsequently. This is a picture taken of the cemetery on the aerodrome before the internees were repatriated to Heverlee after the war:

StTruiden.jpg


So there you have it. My odyssey is now complete. Or so I thought...

I recently took the plunge and registered on Facebook. (Yeah, I know...) I found an old friend who was one of my best mates in the air cadets, many years ago. I haven't seen him in 25 years. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we met up a couple of weeks ago over a beer or two, and I found out that he did his basic flying training at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, which is the base where 6 Group Bomber Command had its HQ. (6 Group was the group which 429Sqn were in.) He still has access to Linton, and has offered to take me in there to look through their extensive archives from the Bomber Command days to do some more detailed research.

The story continues!
 
Having been involved in doing my family tree for the last 6 years on and off, I know how you feel when a find like that comes up. Well done and good luck with your other research.:rock:

I have visited places to find relatives in this country and abroad, and you can get very emotional about it when your there.
 
Thanks to everybody for your very kind and supportive words. They really are appreciated.

As I said before, if anyone else finds themselves in a position where they want to embark on a similar journey, then I will be more than happy to help if I can.

Thanks again chaps.
 
sorry I missed this thread initially, fascinating, truly fascinating; thanks for posting

Same goes for me as well.

A tale like this always makes for good reading.

I, myself did a bit of digging on the internet for some history about my maternal grandfather.
He died in WW1 and I knew very little about him other than his full name. And I only know that because I have his memorial plaque hanging on my wall.
Anyway, I dont wish to hijack your thread, so enough about me.

Thanks for writing this thread and I hope you go on to find out more details and facts.
 

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