Trafford

Apprenticed with Kearns Machine Tools, he volunteered at the age of 17
years.

His two brothers were also in the RAF.

98 Sqn were stationed at the Chateau Bougon Airfield (12/73), situated just
to the south of Nantes, France.  As France fell to the Germans, the pilots
were able to fly home - just a short hop across the Channel.   Not so the
ground crews who had to get out of France the best they could.

He was returning home from France on H.M.S. Lancastria.

On the 17/06/40 the liner Lancastria was lying off St. Nazaire taking on
board British troops who were being evacuated from France.  The embarkation
began at 0800hrs and continued until 1600hrs, by which time the liner was
ready to weigh anchor.  In addition to the troops, there was a party of
about 50 civilians with their wives and children on board.   As far as can
be ascertained, there were 5,310 persons on board, of whom 300 were crew,
though some reports state that there could well have been up to 9,000 on
board.

The first attack by aircraft came at 1400hrs, followed after a short
interval by a second raid.  At about 1600hrs, in a third attack, the ship
was struck by a salvo of bombs, one of which passed ruight through the
dining saloon and burst in the engine room; the ship soon took a heavy
list.

Only 2 lifeboats managed to get away, the others capsising because of
difficulties with the falls or because of overloading.  Tugs and other
small craft were quick to the scene and picked up hundreds of men in the
water.    The Lancastria remained afloat for barely 30 minutes, turning
gradually over to port, so that those still aboard her were able to walk
along the side of the ship.  After floating in this position for some time,
she eventually went down by the head.

Meanwhile, the German airmen occupied themselves by firing from their
machine guns at the men in the water and by firing incendiary bullets that
set fire to the oil floating on the surface of the surrounding water.   Of
those on board, only 2,477 were saved, including the Captain and most of
the civilian passengers.  A small number of servicemen and crew managed to
get to the shore, singly or in small parties and they were captured and
interned by the Germans.

It is estimated that nearly 3,000 servicemen perished.  The report of the
incident was covered up at the time.

Photo in the local newspaper.