AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

602 Squadron Crest
01.07.1944 No 602 Squadron Spitfire IX MH512 LO-Q Fl/Lt. H.J. Cleary

Operation: Armed reconnaissance of the Argentan region.

Date: 1st July 1944 (Saturday)

Unit: No. 602 Squadron

Type: Spitfire MkIX

Serial: MH512

Code: LO-Q

Base: B.11/Longues-sur-Mer, France

Location: Fontaine-Les-Bassets France

Pilot: Fl/Lt. Henry Joseph Cleary J/5038 RCAF Age 25. Survived - later killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Fl/Lt. Cleary was flying Spitfire MH512 LO-Q during an early morning armed reconnaissance of the Argentan region. He dived on a German motor transport column and was subsequently hit by flak.

Fl/Lt. Cleary managed to send out a mayday before bailing out. Pilots of his squadron reported to have last seen him entering cloud in a northerly heading. The Spitfire struck the ground some 30 miles southeast of Caen.

Now an evader, Fl/Lt. Cleary managed to rendezvous with a number of other allied fliers who were in the same predicament.

Their dash to freedom ended on Saturday the 8th of July when they were killed during a gun battle with the Germans. Fl/Lt. Cleary was initially buried at St. Clair but was later exhumed and re-buried as shown below.

Burial details:

(Note: the date on the grave marker had been inscribed incorrectly as the 01.07.1944)

Fl/Lt. Joseph Henry Cleary. Bretteville-Sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery, France Grave: XIX.F.3. Son of Edward J. and Mary Boulger Cleary, of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. Grave inscription reads: “Time Shall Never Efface The Memory Of Our Darling Harry. Dad, Mother And Sister.”

Researcher - Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered September 2016. With thanks to Maureen Pospiech niece of Mr. Cleary, and Daniel Pospiech, grand-nephew of Mr. Cleary for his photographs and to Woose for grave photograph.

MB - 14.09.2016

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024
Last Modified: 30 March 2021, 18:59

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor