Operation: Railway yards, Blainville, France,

Date: 28th/29th June 1944 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit No: 102 Squadron

Type: Halifax III

Serial: LW143

Coded: DY:O

Location: Gisors-Gournay area, France

Base: RAF Pocklington, East Riding, Yorkshire

Pilot: Flt Sgt. Nigel Douglas Campbell 426774 RAAF Age 21. KiA

Flt Eng: Sgt. Donald Eugene Leslie 628603 RAFVR Age 22. Id No. 78404 *, PoW No: 8101 ** (1)

Nav: Sgt. Arthur Douglas Eagle 1580682 RAFVR Age 27. Id No. 78403 *, PoW No: 8086 ** (1)

Bomb Aimer: Flt Sgt. Jack Wilson R121205 RCAF Age 22. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. Noel Albert Pardon 419211 RAAF Age 20. KiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Ronald Lambert Leverington 1254416 RAFVR Age 23. Id No. 78382 *, PoW No: 8102 ** (1)

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Reginald William Joyce 1850911 Age 26. Id No. 78401 *, RAFVR PoW No: 8100 ** (1)

* Buchenwald Concentration Camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany in July 1937.

** Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria)

We now have positive identification, thanks to the gentleman who took the photograph, the flight engineer Sgt Donald E. Leslie.

From left to right: Flt Sgt. Noel Albert Pardon, Sgt. Ronald Lambert Leverington, Sgt. A. Douglas Eagle, Flt Sgt. Jack Wilson, Flt Sgt. Nigel Douglas Campbell and finally Sgt. Reginald W.I. Joyce.

REASON FOR LOSS:

Part of a group made up of 202 Halifaxes and a further 28 Pathfinder Lancasters to attack railway yards at both Blainville and Metz. Both targets were hit.

LW143 or 102 Sqn NA502 was claimed by Maj. Paul Semrau at his 26th or 27th Abschuss and the second or third of four claims this night, from Stab II./NJG2, in the Gisors-Gournay area at 3.200m at 00:45 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten)

Maj. Paul Semrau had been credited with 39 Abschüsse by the time of his death on the 8th February 1945. He was shot down by after being attacked by Flt Lt. Sleep from 402 Squadron and KiA

A further 4 were also lost from this Squadron on this raid. Tragically MZ644 was lost after being shot up by another Halifax possibly from 10 Squadron when that was carrying out a violent corkscrew. MZ644 crashed in the Foret de Wssy and three of that crew perished.

Description of Corkscrew Manoeuvre

Left to right above: Jack Wilson, Nigel Campbell and Noel Pardon

Mr. Jeff Boyling contacted Aircrew Remembered in June 2009 as he had been planning a trip to find the crash site of this aircraft. Jeff's father was cousin to Flt Sgt. Nigel Douglas Campbell the pilot of this aircraft. He contacted me with an appeal to locate the exact spot where Halifax LW143 came down.

We did manage to find some further details and we decided that perhaps Jeff would also like to place a plaque at the spot during his visit. This was made just in time for his departure and off Jeff went. He had also managed to speak with Nigel Campbell's brother a Mr. Burns Campbell 85, who lives in Australia and a memorial wreath was also requested be placed at the grave. He also wanted plaques for some of the other 102 Squadron aircraft that were lost on this raid. We were proud to be able to assist him with this.

This trip marked as the 65th anniversary - almost to the day, of the loss of Halifax LW143.

Jeff managed to carry out some fine detective work and with some very generous assistance from a local forestry worker managed to find the exact location.

Jeff takes up the story:

'On doing more research I was told that the aircraft had come down near Lyons-de-Foret to the west of Beauvais. On making further enquiries I narrowed it down to Les Greniers, a little hamlet in the forest. On visiting Les Greniers I met a forestry worker, Jean Meschberger, who had known the old man of the hamlet. The old man had seen where Nigel’s bomber came down.'

It would appear that the aircraft, obviously in trouble, passed over Les Greniers and crashed in a field just beyond Goupiliere. What happened to the rest of the crew - Sgt. Leslie, Sgt. Eagle, Sgt. Leverington and Sgt. Joyce? Approximately 2 to 3 kilometres through the forest was an abbey and it would appear that the French Resistance came to their rescue and they were taken there initially. The forestry worker showed me this cottage beside the abbey and on the wall were two plaques as shown below".

In the letter sent to Jeff he wrote:

'A few months after the war, my mother received a couple of letters from Nigel's surviving air crew who visited the crash site. The photos show the wrecked fuselage and I remember the letters said that two of the crew were dead in the aircraft before the others parachuted.They said that Nigel kept control of the aircraft for the four to exit and parachute but by the time Nigel got out there was insufficient height for his parachute to save him and he landed in a tree which had to be cut down to retrieve his body.'

(1) Whilst evading they where betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo then and taken to the Fresnes prison located to the south of Paris. This was were French political prisoners were held and ordinarily Allied airmen, after questioning, were moved to a PoW Camp. In the summer of 1944, with the Allies having liberated Paris and closing in, the Gestapo guards started reducing the prison population by execution, and then relocating surviving prisoners to various concentration camps east of France. On the 15th August 1944 they were amongst 169 Allied PoWs and hundreds of French men and women who were packed into a freight train and transported to Buchenwald concentration camp on a journey lasting five days. Buchenwald was located 8 km north of Weimar, in the German province of Thüringen. It was established and administered by the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Fg Off. Joel Mathews ‘Tex’ Stevenson C27788 RCAF, the pilot of 419 (Moose) Squadron, RCAF Lancaster X KB727 VR:H escaped from the train and successfully evaded.

Sqn Ldr. Lamason and Fg Off. Chapman succeeded in getting all but two of the Allied PoWs transferred to Stalag Luft 3. Two airmen, 1st Lt. Levitt Clinton Beck Jr. O-736945, US AAF and Fg Off. Philip Derek Hermmens, 152583, RAFVR, died in the sick barrack.

Recognition:

For decades the International Red Cross (IRC) had stated that there were no military personnel in Buchenwald despite the overwhelming documentary and anecdotal evidence. It was not until 1988 that the IRC eventually confirmed the airmen were illegally held at Buchenwald.

The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments also consistently denied that any of their service personnel were ever held in concentration camps and refused to investigate the claims made by a 'mere’ handful of men.

Reparations were made to the British airmen who had been illegally held at Buchenwald in 1965. Eventually in 1988 the Australian, New Zealand and it is believed the Canadian governments acknowledged that their airmen had been illegally held in concentration camps.

American airmen were among those receiving compensation and the US Air force have acknowledged the Buchenwald airmen with an exhibit at the Air Force Museum, albeit the airmen are shown in uniform rather than in civilian attire. Furthermore, there is no mention of decades-long denial of their experiences by other branches of the government.

The four airmen were transferred to Stalag Luft 3 over the period 15th to 20th October 1944. In early April 1945 he joined the forced march to Stalag 7a, Mooseburg in Southern Bavaria. The camp was liberated on the 29th April 1945 by units of the 14th Armoured Division from Patton’s 3rd Army.

Burial Details

The words on the wreath are as follows:

In loving memory of my brother, Flt Sgt Nigel Douglas Campbell, Pilot RAAF and Captain of Halifax LW143 DY-O of 102 Squadron RAF who with his crew mates. Pilot Officer Jack Wilson RCAF and Sgt Noel Pardon RAAF made the supreme sacrifice, June 1944. Burns Campbell and Family of Sydney, Australia.

(The reverse) On the 65th anniversary, this wreath was laid by Jeff Boyling, son of Keith Boyling (dec) of Brisbane Australia. Keith and Nigel were cousins and both served in the RAAF. They gave there today for our tomorrow.With thanks to Jeff Boyling for a great deal of information supplied and the recent photographs. Thanks also to Mr. David Blais from Ontario, Canada, for contacting the flight engineer in July 2013. Mr. Donald Leslie who at 91 still plays 3x18 hole rounds of golf a week.

Flt Sgt. Nigel Douglas Campbell. Marissel French National Cemetery Grave 265. Born on the 6th January 1922 at Toowoomba, the son of Walter (passed away 31st January 1945) and Jessie Campbell, of 16 Margaret Street, Toowoomba. Queensland, Australia.

Plt Off. Jack Wilson. Marissel French National Cemetery Grave 264. Born on the 24th January 1922 in Banff, Alberta. Son of William and Kathleen Sarah (née Elphick) Wilson and husband of Edith Claire Wilson, of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Flt Sgt. Wilson was posthumously commissioned and promoted to J90298 Plt Off. on the 27th June 1944

Flt Sgt. Noel Albert Pardon. Marissel French National Cemetery Grave 263. Born on the 21st September 1923 at Mildura, the soon of Albert Alexander and Charlotte Alice Valerie Pardon, of 30 Avenue Road, Camberwell, Victoria, Australia.

With thanks to Jeff Boyling, Burns Campbell, Dave Blais, Donald Leslie, Andrew Whitehouse. With thanks to Jeff Boyling for a great deal of information supplied and the recent photographs. Thanks also to Blais from Ontario, Canada, for contacting the Flight Engineer in July 2013. Mr. Donald Leslie, who at 91 still plays 3 x 18 holes of golf a week. Update by Aircrew Remembered to add details of Buchenwald and update to Night-fighter claim (Dec 2022).

Other sources listed below:

Jeff Boyling is part of the Catalina Society UK. As a member of the flight deck often taking part in Airshows to promote the Society.

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