Victoria was the one.
She was curious.
Being curious is what led me to write this blog in the first place.
Victoria more than just wrote me…
Mystery picture?
A blog about RAF 21 Squadron
Who’s been looking at this?
I wish I knew…
Just curious.
Being curious is what led me to write this blog in the first place.
So please comment…
You can write a comment…
When you stumble upon this blog and see all the stories and pictures you can drop a comment and say hello.
Of course you don’t have to and you can use this contact form if you wish.
Last Mission: N.F.T. Last Trip With Gene
Robert Harris has shared almost all he had about his father.
This is the last comment Robert made.
Their last flight together was also on the 12th June starting at 16.05 and over by 16.25. The extract from the log book reads as follows: “N.F.T. Last trip with Gene”.
They flew for 20 minutes!
20 minutes… after 33 operations on a Mosquito most over Germany at night.
That’s the last thing Robert shared with me.
The Last Operation Flown by Our Two Men
Robert Harris has been looking at his father’s logbook.
The last operation flown by our two men was on 2nd May 1945 and lasted for 3 hours and 50 minutes. They dropped 80 X 4 Ib incendiary bombs on an airfield called Hohn.
This was the last operation of 23 Squadron against the Third Reich and also the last operation of Bomber Command.
V.E. DAY
They must have been glad to be alive…
There were a further 7 flights together with the last significant one being : “ASH Check. Flew over London, Cambridge and Norwich to see the lights” – verbatim from log book.
On 12th June, they flew low level to Langrick, a round trip of one hour and 5 minutes. Langrick was significant – a little village/hamlet near Boston in Lincolnshire which is where my mother lived with her mother and father who were farmers. My brother John was born by now and my father and Eugene would often fly over the house to see my mum and John in the garden below!!
Richard Craig Harris’ children and grandchildren will always remember him when they hear a Mosquito high in the sky.
Keeping Jet Fighters Off Berlin?
This was in the draft section of my blog with two more articles. I was waiting to post them because Robert Harris had more to share with us. I have not had any more contact with Robert since last year. I have thus decided to post these as an homage to his father who was Eugene’s navigator for all the 33 operations they flew together as a team.
Post
You can’t make up such a story…
Found in R.C. Harris’ logbook.
KEPT JET FIGHTERS OFF BERLIN
From Lisa Sharp’s collection
On April 4, 1945, Gene and Dick flew a mission that lasted 5 hours and 50 minutes. WWII was not over yet and danger was always present over Germany even if you were flying a Mosquito.
Gene was flying YP-J. They were on an Intruder Patrol over Rechlin/Larz airfield and then over Burg airfield. Bombs were dropped on latter airfield and flash were seen. No activity seen at Rechlin/Larz.
I wish I had a picture of YP-J with Gene and Dick like I have one with George Stewart and Paul Beaudet.
Eugene’s fiancée – Redux
I am posting this again so Judy will understand where her query about a Mosquito pilot shot down around February 1944 can lead her to. This way she won’t have to read all I wrote about 23 Squadron since 2010, and I won’t have to write a long reply to this last part of one of her messages…
How did you get interested and so knowledgeable about 23 squadron?
Original post
This picture was given to Eugène’s nephew by Eugène’s fiancée.
Jacques Gagnon has been meeting Ghislaine Laporte and she is now telling him her part of the story behind this Mosquito pilot. I am just waiting for final approval to publish what Jacques wrote about it here.
Meantime, Peter Smith has sent Richard Cooper some of his notes on his father-in-law following Richard’s comment.
My father-in-law is Theodore Griffiths DFC. He was a Mosquito pilot with 23 Squadron and his navigator was a Rick Maude. Any memories copies of photographs would be much appreciated. Theo suffers from Alzeimers and vascular dementia but is still able to recall his time with the squadron.
Richard Cooper
End of the original post
Since then, Ghislaine Laporte has agreed to publish her story on my blog Souvenirs de guerre.
You can click here to read what I wrote about it.
One day, when time permits, I will translate that story in English so my readers will have a clearer picture of Ghislaine’s story instead of having to use a Web translation.
When time permits because Judy has something to share with us…
Hard to read isn’t?
Hugh kept this letter all his life.
Dean Cahill found it among other earth shattering artifacts. I had a hard time finding who had written Hugh on December 15, 1944.
December 1944 that when Eugene Gagnon joined 23 Squadron. So this is somewhat precious because Eugene Gagnon is the reason I wrote this blog.
I don’t know if Hugh had any children.
In my research yesterday I found Hugh Boland married Miss Tate. I don’t know her first name. What I know though is that a Doreen was much interested in Hugh.
That telegram was sent on April 19, 1943.
Doreen was not the only one interested in Hugh as you can see with this letter from a WAFF.
This looks like a letter from Doreen Oates a WAFF in RAF Colerne.
So Miss Tate who married Hugh can’t be Doreen.
If you want to contact me about this, you can write a comment on use this contact form.
Trust
Reflecting this morning.
How do you trust someone with very personal information about someone who was dear to you?
On the Internet?
With a complete stranger!
This is what I did back in 2010 and got bitten by it. I won’t go into that story, but only the sequel.
The veteran whom I had trusted was the one who guided me to Marcel Bergeron. Who would not trust a WW II veteran when he asks for your help?
Anyway I got to know Marcel Bergeron who knew Eugene Gagnon whom, at that time, I did not know that Mosquito pilot had ever existed, let alone 23 Squadron. Marcel has been a dear friend since 2010, but not the WW II veteran about whom I never spoke again on my blogs.
Eugene Gagnon, staff pilot (Paulson, Manitoba)
So how do you trust someone with very personal information about someone who was dear to you?
On the Internet?
With a complete stranger!
Just like Judy did with me a few days ago…
Trust!
When I met Marcel in 2010, I knew that Eugene had a nephew. Marcel knew about Jacques Gagnon, but I never got around to push further in that direction. Then in 2012 I told Marcel on the spur of a moment…
I have to meet him.
Glad I did…
Sometimes you meet people in life that betray your trust, but down the road you’ll discover that was the price you had to pay to find wonderful people with wonderful stories to tell like the story of Eugène’s fiancée.
Ghislaine Laporte, Eugène’s fiancée
