Why Cambridge ...... ?

liverpool annie · Aug 22, 2009

I wonder why these Australians were buried in Cambridge ? ... ( though I know there was a military hospital there ) ... does anybody know ?

In Memory of
Flight Sergeant STANLEY ARTHUR ABBOTT

436790, Royal Australian Air Force
who died age 21
on 31 August 1944
Son of George Stanley Abbott and Jean Hamilton Abbott, of Cottesloe, Western Australia.

Remembered with honour
CAMBRIDGE CITY CEMETERY

The AVRO Lancaster from 463 Squadron (RAAF), based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, is believed to have broken up mid-flight at 10,000 feet near Kingussie on the night of August 31, 1944, with the loss of all seven crew on-board.

One theory is that the bomber was struck by lightning by while on a mission the previous night over German-occupied Koningsberg, now known as Kaliningrad in the Western Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania.

Another possibility is that the plane was hit by lightning after encountering a fierce storm over the Highlands, leading to the catastophic failure of all four engines while on the training exercise.

The aircraft only had 57 flying hours under its belt, and was being flown by a "sprog" crew the affectionate nickname given to newly qualified fliers when it went down.

The Royal Australian Air Force crew who died were pilot, Flying Officer Robert Beddoe (21), from Elsterwick, near Victoria; navigator, Flight Sergeant Frederic Walker (32), St Ives, New South Wales; mid-upper gunner, Flight Sergeant Stanley Abbott (21), Cottesloe, West Australia; wireless operator, Flight Sergeant Terrence Dent (21), Walkeston, Queensland; rear gunner, Flight Sergeant Bevil Glover (23), Malvern, Victoria, and bomb aimer David Ryan (30), of Fairfield, Victoria.

Also on board was Glaswegian RAF flight engineer, Warrant Officer George Middleton (37), who may have parachuted to safety in time from the doomed plane, but tragically could then have fallen to his death while trying to fetch help. An open parachute was found at the crash scene by rescuers, and his body was recovered from the bottom of a cliff.
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A photograph taken of the crew shortly before they were killed – left to right, David Ryan, Terrence Dent, Robert Beddoe, Fredric Walker, Bevil Glover and Stanley Abbott.

spidge · Aug 22, 2009

Hi Annie,

This is one of the strangest stories ever however it may not conclusively answer your question!

PD259-JO.G

By this time I knew, from a friend in Werrington, NSW, Australia, (John Williams), that a P/O W. A. Graham had been buried in Cambridge City Cemetery, UK, on 20th March 1944 — only four days after the death of 463’s P/O W. A. Graham. The Cambridge City Cemeteries Administrator told me, in a letter, that William Alexander Graham, “is still buried in the War Graves section of the City Cemetery, Newmarket Road” and that “There is no record of an exhumation having taken place at this cemetery.” The following paragraph, (from Cambridge), put in words what I had been suspecting — “I can only assume that there was somebody else with almost the same name buried at Dalton-in-Furness (Cumbria) cemetery.”

It would seem that the only way to settle the question was by way of the service numbers. Barrow cemetery manager reported that ‘their’ W. A. Graham was A42 1205. As the 463 Sqdn man was A413988 it would appear that they were in fact two different men. However, as 467 Sqdn’s ORB F541 for 1/2 January 1944, (the night they were killed in action with my uncle on the way to bomb Berlin), shows the two Aussie gunners, (Boettcher and Scott), listed with the wrong service nos., I decided to check with Cambridge once more. Their reply told me that, (from his headstone inscription, M.M. 398 Lodge U.G.L.) while it was clear that P/O W.A. Graham buried in Cambridge had been a Freemason, his service number was not inscribed there — a common occurrence in respect of RAAF officers.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission finally settled the issue in Feb. 1993 when their reply to my letter gave the information that confirmed that the William Arthur Graham buried in Dalton, (they gave his rank as ‘Warrant Officer’ — the Barrow cemetery as ‘Flight Sergeant’), was A42 1205, and that ‘Pilot Officer’ William Alexander Graham A413988 was buried in Cambridge. (On the subject of ‘reinterrment’ the Graves Registration form for W/O Graham shows that he was initially buried on the Isle of Tiree on 20/8/1944 and ‘reinterred’ in Dalton-in-Furness the following day i.e. on 21/8/1944). The Graves Registration Form for PlO W. Akxander Graham A4 13988 shows his ‘Place of Death’ as ‘Blanston’ (sic), Lincolnshire, England’ — this should of course be ‘Branston’.

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liverpool annie · Aug 22, 2009

Makes you wonder doesn't it Geoff ?....... hwell:hwell: .... fascinating !

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