Operation: Noisy-le-Sec Railway Marshalling Yards, France

Date: 18th/19th April 1944 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit No: 433 (Porcupine) Squadron, RCAF

Type: Halifax III

Serial: HX287

Code: BM:U

Base: RAF Skipton-on-Swale

Location: Noisy-le-Sec

Pilot: Flt Sgt. William John Deblois Sturmy R138996 RCAF Age 27. KiA

Flt Eng: Sgt. Leonard Morgan 1801125 RAFVR Age? KiA

Nav: WO2. Glenford Herbert Taylor R133342 RCAF Age 25. KiA

Bomb Aimer: Fg Off. Arthur Ross Thrasher J25068 RCAF Age 26. KiA

WOp/Air Gnr: Sgt. John Faulds Barron 1345933 RAFVR Age 25. KiA

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Sgt. Irvin Neil McInnis R198002 RCAF Age 21. KiA

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. Sidney Wallace Follows R204056 RCAF Age 19. KiA

Above left to right: Flt Sgt. Sturmy, WO2. Taylor, Fg Off. Thrasher from their service records.

Above left to right: Sgt. McInnis, Sgt. Fellows from their service records

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 20:39 hrs to bomb the marshalling yards at Noisy-le-Sec. Claimed by Flak of gem Flak Abt 344 at 00:01. Crashed onto the roof of a power plant in the station yards and was totally destroyed.

Also lost from the Squadron on this operation:

Halifax III LV971 BM:N - Flown by 24 year old, Flt Lt. Gerald Boyd Edmonds J5822 RCAF of Stratford, Ontario, Canada - killed with all 6 other crew in the same area after being hit by flak. (Six of the crew buried within the same cemetery, one remembered on the Runnymede Memorial)

Burial Details

Plt Off. William John Deblois Sturmy. Clichy Northern Cemetery. Plot 16. Row 16. Grave 5. Grave inscription: "BELOVED SON OF FRED AND OLIVE STURMY, BEDFORD, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA". Born on the 5th March 1917 in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Son of Frederick Osborne and Olive Sutherland (née DeBlois) Sturmy of Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Brother Fg Off. F.A. Sturmy serving with the RCAF, Patricia Bay, British Columbia.

Posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to (J85870) Plt Off with effect 29th March 1944

Sgt. Leonard Morgan. Clichy Northern Cemetery. Plot 16. Row 7. Grave 14. No further information found

Above: Initial Grave marker for Plt Off Taylor, from his service record

Plt Off. Glenford Herbert Taylor. Clichy Northern Cemetery. Plot 16. Row 7. Grave 15. Grave inscription: "THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD". Born on the 5th October 1918 in Matapedia, Quebec. Son of William Archibald and Elizabeth Lina (née Bulmer) Taylor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to (J86442) Plt Off. with effect 17th April 1944.

Above: Initial Grave marker for Fg Off Thrasher, from his service record

Fg Off. Arthur Ross Thrasher Clichy Northern Cemetery. Plot 16. Row 9. Grave 19. Grave inscription: "HE IS NOT DEAD, ONLY LOST TO US FOR A LITTLE WHILE". Born on the 16th December 1917 in Pembroke, Renfrew, Ontario. Son of Charles (deceased) and Florence Everlyn Thrasher of Perth, Ontario, Canada.

Brother Kenneth W. Thrasher C11611 serving with 51 Radio School, RAF in India

Sgt. John Faulds Barron. Clichy Northern Cemetery. Plot 16. Row 16. Coll. Grave 1-4. Grave inscription: "PLEASANT THOUGHTS OF ONE SO DEAR, ARE OFT RECALLED WITH A SILENT TEAR". Son of John Faulds Barron and Christina Barron, of Springboig, Glasgow, Scotland.

Plt Off. Irvin Neil McInnis. Clichy Northern Cemetery. Plot 16. Row 16. Coll. Grave 1-4. Born on the 27th September 1923 at Collins Inlet. Ontario. Son of Neil (His father predeceased him) and Mary Catherine (née Nadeau) (remarried MacLean) of Gomama, Ontario, Canada.

Brother Pte John Peter McInnis B158231 serving with the Canadian Army overseas.

Sister Wren. Leulla Audrey McInnis W4685 serving at HMCS ’Stadacona’ Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to (J91047) Plt Off. with effect 17th April 1944.

Plt Off. Sidney Wallace Follows. Clichy Northern Cemetery. Plot 16. Row 16. Coll. Grave 1-4. Grave inscription: "EVER REMEMBERED". Born on the 25th January 1924 in Ottowa, Ontario. Son of Sidney William Follows (deceased Sep 1927) and Elizabeth Maud Follows (remarried McNamara) of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to (J89123) Plt Off. with effect 17th April 1944.

Research by Kelvin Youngs (Webmaster) and dedicated to the crew and their families (Oct 2015). Also to Niles White who sponsored the page on behalf of his mother (Jun 2018). Thanks to John Jones for the aircraft loss information (Apr 2020). Next of Kin details and new photographs added (Feb 2024).

Other sources listed below.

Message from the sponsor of this page:

Only up until very recently, I knew of Flt Sgt. Sturmy as "Bim," which I believe was his nickname. If this is correct, then he is likely the man whom my mother, Miriam Wally Brown, described as the man she should have married.

My mother grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and was visiting Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia when her uncle, Lieutenant Colonel Earle C. Phinney, second in command of the Nova Scotia Highland Battalion in WWI, introduced her to Mr. Sturmy. Lt Col. Phinney is my grand Uncle. I salute both gentlemen.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
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