Operation: Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France

Date: 4th/5th July 1944 (Tuesday/Wednesday)

Unit No: 433 (Porcupine) Squadron, RCAF, 6 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Halifax III

Serial: LW120

Code: BM:E

Base: RAF Skipton-on-Swale, Yorkshire

Location: Saint-Arnoult-des-Bois, 18 km (11 mls) WNW of Chartres, France

Pilot: Flt Lt. Bernard Yunker J7977 RCAF Age 26. KiA (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. George Frank Watmough 1875536 RAFVR Age 29. Id No. 78439 *, PoW No. 8120 ** (2)

Nav: Fg Off. Michel ‘Mike’ Wiome J29979 RCAF Age 28. Evader (3)

Bomb Aimer: Fg Off. Stanley George Hetherington J29688 RCAF Age 26. Id No. 78436 *, PoW No. 8050 ** (2)

WOp/ Air Gnr: Plt Off. Patrick Scullion J25051 RCAF Age 25. Id No. 78395 *, PoW No. 8065 ** (2)

Air Gnr (Mid Upp): Flt Sgt. Leon Thomas Grenon R135306 RCAF Age 23. Id No. 78438 *, PoW No. 8092 ** (2)

Air Gnr (Rear): Sgt. William ‘Bill’ Gracie R204657 RCAF Age 29. KiA

* 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).

REASON FOR LOSS:

On the 4th July 1944 16 aircraft from the squadron were tasked on a mission to bomb the railway yards at Villeneuve-Saint-Georges in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. There were no reports of any fighter activity over the target which was bombed accurately.

LW120 was one of 3 aircraft from the squadron that failed to return.

LW120 or 433 (Porcupine) Sqn LW123 was claimed by Lt. Lothar Jarsch, his 4th Abschuss, from 6./NJG6 in the area of Dreaux-Évreux-Chartres at 1500 m. at 01:48 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (12 May 1944 - 23 July 1944) Part 3 - Theo Boiten).

Oblt. Jarsch survived the war and was credited with 6 Abschüsse.

Note: There are no other records listed by the OKL that claim LW120 and/or LW123 so Lt. Jarsch can only have claimed one of the two bombers with the other lost in unknown circumstances. However, there are two claims for a 4-Mot probably from the Villeneuve raid that were never confirmed or were rejected by the OKL..

The aircraft was partially abandoned and crashed at 01:45 hrs near Saint-Arnoult-des-Bois, 18 km (11 mls) WNW of Chartres.

The other two aircraft that failed to return were:

Halifax III LW123 BM:W (6 KiA, 1 PoW);

Halifax III HX353 BM:X (1 KiA, 3 PoW, 3 Evd).

Fg Off. Wiome described the circumstances leading to the loss of the aircraft:

“After the first burst of cannon fire Flt Sgt. Grehon, the mid-upper gunner, called out to "Weave" but before any evasive action could be taken the Halifax was hit by a second burst of fire. No word came from Sgt. Gracie, the rear gunner, at all and it is not known whether either gunner saw the enemy aircraft at any time during the attack.

One of the port engines was set ablaze and Flt Lt. Yunker, the pilot, extinguished the fire although he apparently could not feather the propeller. While he was working on the port engine, Flt Sgt. Watmough, the flight engineer, shouted that one of the starboard engines was on fire.

Flt Lt. Yunker at once gave orders to abandon the aircraft. Fg Off. Wiomer opened the escape hatch which stuck at first but he gave it a strong pull and it opened. He intended to jettison it but was unable to so and he held onto and told the Fg Off. Hetherington, the bomb aimer to jump, who then after removing his flying helmet sat on the edge of the hatch let himself down feet first facing aft.

Fg Off. Wiomer, who had not yet put on his parachute stepped over the hole and told the Plt Off. Scullion, the wireless operator, to jump which he did. Fg Off. Wiomer who by then had clipped on his chute was the next to jump, and Flt Sgt. Watmough was preparing to follow after he had jumped.

The aircraft was still flying reasonably straight and level. Fg Off. Wiomer’s parachute functioned satisfactorily but he swung round and landed backwards; however, he was not hurt.

While descending he saw the aircraft still flying along but it did not appear to be on fire, but it crashed and exploded on impact before he had reached the ground. He landed near Digny at about 01:40 hours”.

It is believed that Sgt. Gracie was killed during the fighter attack. Also that Flt Lt. Yunker did not have time to abandon the aircraft prior to it crashing.

(1) On the 3rd August 1943 Flying Officer Yunker appeared before the Re-Selection Board at RCAF "R" Deport, Houghton Green in Warrington, Lancashire at which the following conclusions were reached:

'After completing his preliminary training in Canada, Flying Officer Yunker was posted to this Country and proceeded to 17 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit (AFU) where he was described as a keen and very experienced Pilot who had had no trouble with any of his practices. He then proceeded to 56 Operational Training Unit (OTU) where he was assessed as above average as a Pilot, and described as being very keen and reliable. He has 1,027 flying hours to his credit. Whilst at 56 OTU he was withdrawn from training when it was discovered that he was deaf in one ear.

Note: 56 Operational Training Unit (OTU) (Hurricanes), 9 Group, RAF Tealing, Fighter Command

He was medically boarded at No.1 Central Medical Board (CMB) on the 31st May 1943 categorised A2B, "Unfit single seater aircraft, fit all other types". Headquarters, No.9 Group recommended that he should be posted to a twin-engined AFU.

Note: No.1 Central Medical Board (CMB) was at RAF Halton

Flying Officer Yunker told the Board that his ear defect had not troubled him during training and he was very anxious to do a tour of operations, preferably in medium Bombers.

The Board were of the unanimous opinion that this Officer is an experienced Pilot who should prove very useful in operations on multi-engined machines, and accordingly they decided to send him before your Board with the strong recommendation that he be so employed.’

He was then posted to 24 Operational Training Unit (OTU) on the 25th January 1944 to be trained on Wellingtons then to 1659 Conversion Unit (CU) on the 17th April 1944 and then to 433 Sqn on the 7th June 1944.

(2) Sgt. Watmough’s PoW report describes his and Plt Off. Scullion’s evasion and the circumstances of their betrayal and capture along with three other named airmen.

‘On 4/5 Jul 44 I was flying in a Halifax III returning from a raid and I was shot down by German fighters SW of Paris. I baled out and landed near Courville-sur-Eure nr. Chartres. I buried my flying equipment in a cornfield and slept for a few hours. The next morning I met a peasant who hid me in a nearby wood. He came back later with civilian clothes and some food. He also brought the local schoolmaster who spoke English. I was told that I would be helped by the Resistance Organisation, The peasant then took me to Pontgouin, where I stayed at a farm for three days. The second day my Wireless Operator arrived. On the third day we went early in the morning to Villebon nr. Chartres. We stayed in a chateau here and a farmer told us that there might be a plane which could take us back to the UK, The next day he informed us that we would be going by a different route. A car arrived with an Englishman and two gendarmes who arranged with the farmer to take us to Paris. We walked to Chartres following a guide and after lunch we went to the car that was waiting for us. In the car there were two USAAF and an RAF Sgt. We were all driven to Paris to the House of Voisin, the car manufacturer, off Place de la Porte de Saint-Cloud. We stayed here for one night and the following afternoon about 17:00 hrs we were driven around Paris. We were transferred to a lorry with other evading airmen, about 15 of us were taken to the Gestapo HQ. Later we were moved to Fresnes Prison, where we were kept as civilian prisoners for about a month’.

It is believed that the two USAAF airman and the RAF Sgt. were:

2nd Lt. James H. Smith USAAF and T/Sgt. Roy J. Horrigan USAAF both from B-24H 42-52759;

Sgt. Wilfred Marshall RAF who was the Flt Eng. from 12 Sqn Lancaster III ND627 which was shot down on the 4th July 1944 (4 KiA, 3 PoW).

Fresnes prison was located to the south of Paris and was where 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 was 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 (5 mls) 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 Hemmens, 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.

Sgt. Watmough, Plt Off. Scullion, Flt Sgt. Grenon and Fg Off. Hetherington were transferred to Stalag Luft 3 over the period 15th to 20th August 1944.

Just before midnight on the 27th January 1945, because of advancing Soviet forces, the PoW’s were marched out of the camp to Spremberg. Here PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages. The train journeys took about 2-3 days with trains the stopping every 12 hours beyond railway stations. PoWs could leave carriages for physical needs and were provided with fresh water.

Sgt. Watmough, Plt Off. Scullion and Flt Sgt. Grenon were part of the column of men that were force marched to the Marlag-Milag Nord PoW camp arriving there on the 4th/5th February 1945.

Malag = Marinelager (naval prisoner of war camp) and Milag = Marine-Internierten-Lager (naval internment camp), Nord (North). Located at a former Luftwaffe (German Air Force) barracks near Westertimke NE of Bremen in Germany.

On the 2nd April 1945 the camp commandant ordered that the PoWs were to leave the camp with most of the guards. However, that afternoon a detachment of more than 100 SS-Feldgendarmerie entered the camp and gathered some 3000 of the PoWs and marched them out heading east.

The column was attacked RAF aircraft resulting in the deaths of two PoWs and injuries to several others. The Senior British Naval Officer (SBNO), Capt. J. Thornton was one of the two who were killed.

It is believed that Sgt. Watmough, Plt Off. Scullion and Flt Sgt. Grenon were part of this column but are not on the list of PoWs. However, the list is not comprehensive as only has around 200 names. The column finally arrived at Lübeck, on the Baltic coast, on the 28th April 1945. They where they were liberated by a Spearhead of the 11th Armoured Division around noon of the 1st May 1945.

At the Marlag-Milag Nord camp the guards fled on 9th April 1945 and were replaced by elderly civilian guards. Those remaining at the camp were liberated by the British Guards Armoured Division on the 27th April 1945.

From Spremberg Fg Off. Hetherington was with a group from the West Compound that were sent to Stalag 3A, Luckenwalde. The camp housed not only PoWs from Stalag Luft 3, but also from Stalag 8C in Sagan-Silesia, Stalag 21C in Wolsztyn and Stalag 3B in Furstenberg. Finally, as the Russians approached the guards fled the camp leaving the prisoners to be liberated by the Red Army on the 22nd April 1945.

(3) Fg Off. Wiome landed near Digny, some 9 km (5½ mls) NE of where the aircraft crashed, at about 01:40 hrs. All that is known about his evasion through France is that he made his way to the Allied camp in the Forêt Fréteval near Châteaudun.

Note: This camp was part of ‘Operation Marathon’ which was a plan to hide evading Allied airmen in secret camps in France and Belgium. The Forêt Fréteval camp was code named ‘Operation Sherwood’ and eventually held more than 130 Allied airmen. The camp was liberated on the 11th August 1944.

He was evacuated to RAF Northolt from the camp on 13th August 1944.

Burial details:

The grave for Flt Lt. Yunker and Fg Off. Gracie are the only two Commonwealth graves in this churchyard

Flt Lt. Bernard Yunker. St. Arnoult-des-Bois Churchyard, Joint Grave. Grave Inscription: ‘R.I.P. DEAR BARNEY, YOU ARE EVER IN OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS YOUR MOTHER’. Born on the 10th October 1917 in Balgonie, Saskatchewan. Son of Joseph (his father predeceased him) and Magdalena (née Grad) Yunker of Balgonie, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Plt Off. William ‘Bill’ Gracie. St. Arnoult-des-Bois Churchyard, Joint Grave. Born on the 20th May 1915 in Calgary, Alberta. Son of Robert and Lucy Blanche (née Broadbridge) Gracie of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

Sgt. Gracie was posthumously appointed to a commission and promoted to J90216 Plt Off. on the 3rd July 1944.

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew.

Other sources listed below:

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