WITH the last reunion of the surviving veterans of 102 Sqn over, perhaps you would allow me to indulge in a little bit of local history.
People are rather mystified why so few airmen are buried in Pocklington Cemetery. We must go back to 1943.
The last airmen to be buried in Barmby Moor Churchyard was Flight Lieutenant DC Moon whose body was retrieved out of the North Sea by the Air Sea Rescue Service in 1943. There was a well-to-do lady in the village who kept badgering the vicar about t
he growing number of airmen's graves in the churchyard, she said there'd be no room left for village people, and she had supporters.
Finally they won the day and burials were suspended in 1943, switching to Pocklington Cemetery, despite objections from others like my grandfather who declared to the then Rev Sturdy that these men had fought for us, and seeing the aerodrome was in Barmby Parish, had the right to be buried in the churchyard.
A few were buried at Pocklington but most of the casualties went to the big airmen's graveyard at Stonefell Cemetery in Harrogate where most are from arifields in Yorkshire, and 944 service personnel are laid to rest.
British, Australian, New Zealanders, and the biggest percentage being Canadians who flew from North Yorkshire airfields.
Not all airmen in Barmby Moor Churchyard are from 405 and 102 Sqn. Some are from 158 Sqn at Driffield, 76 Sqn at Holme-upon- Spalding Moor, 10 Sqn at Melbourne and 77 Sqn at Elvington.
Forty-eight airmen were buried at Barmby Moor, two were exhumed after the war and returned to their loved ones in Canada. Not all the dead airmen flew in Halifax and Wellington bombers. Sgt H Griffith from Church Fenton, a Beaufighter pilot, took off on the Allerthorpe runway, the aircraft failed to climb. Chopping the top off an ash tree before crashing into the canal at Bielby.
Two members of the Whitley bomber crew, an Australian and a Canadian, who ran out of petrol and crashed near Waplington Hall, both are buried at Barmby Moor. After years of research I cannot explain why F/Sgt Burns out of the same crew was buried separately at Pocklington on the same date - 13 October 1941.
My enthusiasm for researching these fallen airmen stems from my school days. A few of us lads spent a lot of time around the airfield boundary fence, observing the activity going round the bombers. A treat for us lads was to be given sweets by the aircrews. Sweets were rationed in wartime. I hope councillors will keep on selecting names of aircrew for future housing in this area.
G Fountain
Sancton
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