Operation: Hanswerk

Date: 02nd September 1943 (Thursday)

Unit: No. 137 Squadron (motto: 'Do right, fear naught')

Type: Hurricane IV

Serial: KX698

Code: SF-?

Base: RAF Manston. Kent

Location: Hanswerk n

Pilot: Fl/Lt. 'Lorrie' Joseph Laurier Dehoux DFC. J/15145 (R/69546) RCAF Age 21. Killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

During training at Camp Borden, Ontario, Canada on the 20th November 1940 he was found guilty of negligence likely to cause damage to his majesty aircraft. He took off in Yale 3398 (1) in front of Yale 3405 which was about to land on runway 3. He received a 7 day confined to barracks.

Taking off at 09:15 hrs with 3 others from the squadron - Sq/Ldr John Basil Wray 37874 DFC flying KX589, P/O. Joel Hilton Ashton J/17890 DFC flying KX248 and Fl/Sgt. Aubrey Cartwright Smith 1340628 fling KX396. Joining up with 8 Hurricanes from 164 squadron together with an escort of Typhoons from 3 and 196 squadron.

Fl/Lt Dehoux was seen to fire his rockets at a locomotive and then pull away then not seen for heard of again!

Two Hurricanes from 164 squadron were also lost:

Sq/Ldr. Desmond Papworth Mckeown AFC 32176 RAFVR flying Hurricane IV KZ406 whilst attacking Lock gates at Hanswerk was hit by flak and killed.
F/O. Ian Allan Young J/7822 RCAF flying Hurricane IV KX541 whilst attacking Lock gates at Hanswerk was hit by flak and taken prisoner: PoW No. 2546. Camp: Stalag Luft Sagan and Belaria

One of the escorting Typhoons was also hit by flak: 24 year old Fl/Sgt. Edgar Thomas Leslie Osborne Aus/409272 RAAF flying Typhoon Ib JP591 lost his life over the same target area.

(1) Yale 3398 was written off on the 29th October 1943. Whilst with No.2 Wireless School based at Calgary - went into a spin and crashed two miles east of Midnapore, Alberta. The two crew, 24 year old Fl/Sgt Clifford Edgar Garbutt R/50753 RCAF and 25 year old P/O. James Kennedy J/22736 RCAF. Yale 3405 was taken off assets and for sale on the 01st October 1946.

Above l-r: P/O. Robert Leslie Smith DFC/DFM - F/O. Edward Lancelot Musgrave RAAF (KIA 18/5/43) - P/O. Desmond Eaton Roberts RNZAF - Fl/Sgt. John McGowan Barclay (KIA 31/7/43) - W/O. Arthur Gaston Brunet RCAF - Fl/tL John Michael Bryan (KIA 10/6/44) - F/O. Joseph Laurier DeHoux RCAF (KIA 2/9/43) - Sgt. Aubrey Cartwright Smith; - F/O. John Edward McClure RCAF - Sgt. Norbury Dugdale - Sgt. Thomas Arthur Sutherland - Sgt.. Ernest Alfred Bolster - F/O. John Maude Hadow - Sq/Ldr/ Humphrey St John Coghlan, DFC - Sgt.. Robert Woodhouse. The dog's name was Lynn and belonged to John Michael Bryan.

Burial details:

Fl/Lt. 'Lorrie' Joseph Laurier Dehoux DFC. Flushing Northern Cemetery (Vlissingen). Row G. Grave 7. Born on the 26th July 1920 in L'Annonciation, Quebec, Canada. Enlisted on the 22nd June 1940. Son of Gustave Dehoux (died in vehicle accident age 30) and of Anna Guilbault Dehoux, and stepson of Thomas H. Davey, of 783 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His brother Joseph Fernand Gustave Rene also died on service. Halifax III LW327 VR-A 419 Squadron. (4 crew PoW, 3 killed) Epitaph: 'O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? O Grave, Where Is Thy Victory?'.

DFC Citation;
This officer has participated in many sorties, including attacks on enemy airfields both by day end night, and on military installations and shipping. In the course of his activities, Flying Officer Dehoux has inflicted drainage on 19 barges, 3 minesweepers and 5 locomotives. He has displayed great skill and fighting qualities.

Others mentioned in this report:

Fl/Sgt Clifford Edgar Garbutt. Nanton Cemetery. Grave Lot 7. Plot 35. Born on the 13th February 1919 in Nanton, Alberta, Canada. Enlisted on the 16th November 1939. Son of Herbert Edgar and Helen Garbutt, of Nanton, husband of Melba Genevieve Garbutt (died 2001, age 85), of Calgary. Epitaph: 'Sunshine Fades And Shadows Fall, But Love's Remembrance Outlasts All'.

P/O. James Kennedy. Vancouver Cemetery (Mountain View) . Grave Jones 0.7. 4. Born on the 28th May 1918 in Vancouver, Canada. Enlisted on the 10th October 1941. The only son of William Kennedy and Louisa Alice Kennedy (née Downer - died 16th December 1984, age 90), of Vancouver; husband of Margaret Doreen Kennedy, of 5990 Hudson Street,Vancouver.

P/O. Joseph Fernand Gustave Rene Dehoux. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery Collective grave 5. F. 24-29. Born on the 26th March 1924 in L'Annonciation, Quebec, Canada. Enlisted on the 09th September 1942. Son of Gustave Dehoux (died in vehicle accident age 30) and of Anna Guilbault Dehoux, and stepson of Thomas H. Davey, of 783 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sq/Ldr. Desmond Papworth Mckeown AFC. Flushing Northern Cemetery (Vlissingen). Row G. Grave 8. No further details - are you able to assist us? Epitaph: 'So Walked He From His Birth, In Simpleness And Gentleness And Honour And Clean Mirth'.

Fl/Sgt. Edgar Thomas Leslie Osborne. Bergen-Op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery. Grave 6. F. 6. Born on the 18th September 1918 in Benalla, Victoria, Australia. Enlisted on the 20th July 1941. Son of William Thomas Lowe Osborne (died 07th October 1945, age 75) and Eleanor Frances Osborne (née Cook - died 03rd November 1955, age 75), husband of Heather Mary Osborne, of Goorambat, Victoria, Australia. His brother 21 year old Fl/Sgt. Ronald Henderson Osborne Aus/418560 RAAF also died in service. Epitaph: 'Brother Of FLT/SGT.R.H. Osborne K.I.A. France 2nd May 1944'.

Fl/Sgt. Ronald Henderson Osborne. Poix-De-Picardie Churchyard. Row A. Coll. grave 12-14. Born on the 31 October 1922 in Benalla, Victoria, Australia. Enlisted on the 23rd May 1942. (Air Bomber on 218 squadron Stirling III EF504 HA-P Shot down by multiple night fighters. Crashed Poix-de-la-Somme, 5 crew killed, 2 evaded capture) Epitaph: down by multiple night fighters. Crashed Poix-de-la-Somme, 5 crew killed, 2 evaded capture) Epitaph: 'Brother Of F/Sgt. E.T.L. Osborne, K.I.A. Holland 2nd September 1943

P/O. Joseph Fernand Gustave Rene Dehoux. Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery. Collective. grave 5. F. Born on the 26th March 1924 in L'Annonciation, Quebec, Canada. Enlisted on the 09th September 1942. Son of Gustave Dehoux, and of Anna Guilbault Dehoux, and stepson of Thomas H. Davey, of 783 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of pilots with thanks to the National Archive Kew, AIR-27-954-47/48, Caspir data Archive, Paradie RCAF Archives, Canadian government WW2 Service records. Westland Whirlwind Fighter Project, Imperial War Museum.

Other sources as quoted below:

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