Hubert Brooks: The Life and Times

Chapter 6: Missing Research & Enquiry Service – M.R.E.S.

Section 6.7: EXAMPLE OF COMMEMORATIVE NATURE OF HONORING THE DECEASED AIRMEN

One of the important aspects of the job was the commemorative nature of honoring the deceased with a proper funeral and burial.

This was something that a M.R.E.S. Search Officer had to typically arrange at a village cemetery close to the plane wreck site (unless other arrangements were called for) or if an unknown aviator could be identified in a mass gave site.

The photos that follow of a burial of R.A.F. F/O A. H. Hall I arranged while on assignment with the M.R.E.S. in Denmark illustrate a typical EXAMPLE of the work that had to be done and perhaps clearly speaks to the scope of the job. Typically the locals were most anxious to participate to honor the memory of the fallen hero.

Editor's Note:

Rob Davis' Bomber Command Losses Database Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command 1939-1945 has ther following information about R.A.F. F/O A. H. (Alexander Henry) Hall and his air crew mates which is reproduced below:

'BOMBER COMMAND HX151'
DATE:	23-Apr-1944 / 24-Apr-1944
UNIT:	102 Sqdn
AIRCRAFT:	Handley Page Halifax II
RAF BASE:	Pocklington
TAKE-OFF AT:	21:10
TARGET:	Mine laying
CAUSE OF LOSS:	Shot down by fighter

Pilot:	Flying Officer Alexander Henry Hall	RAFVR (151580) [Killed].	Son of James and Harriett Mary Hall of Malpas Cheshire. Husband of Ursula Eileen Hall..	Svino Churchyard, Denmark, Grave 92
Flight Engineer:	Sergeant Norman Pearce	RAFVR (1737174) [Killed].	Son of George Cliffe Pearce and Ada Pearce of Newcastle Staffordshire.	Omo Churchyard, Denmark, Row 1 Grave 10
Navigator:	Flying Officer Arthur Joseph Painter	RAFVR (151098) [Killed].	:	Runnymede Memorial, United Kingdom, Panel 208
Bomb Aimer:	Pilot Officer Ivan Arnold Weir	RCAF (J/86890) [Killed].	Son of John Stevenson Weir and Mary Caldwell Weir of Belmont Manitoba Canada.	Svino Churchyard, Denmark, Grave 82
Wireless Operator:	Sergeant Christopher George Woplin	RAFVR (1423134) [Killed].	Son of George Christopher and Sarah Woplin of South Norwood Surrey.	Svino Churchyard, Denmark, Grave 69
Mid-Upper Gunner:	Sergeant Robert Dennis Loke	RAFVR (1819350) [Killed].	Son of Frank Edgar and Constance Beatrice Loke of Leicester	Runnymede Memorial, United Kingdom, Panel 233
Rear Gunner:	Sergeant Robert Joseph Clarke	RAFVR (1823047) [Killed].	:	Runnymede Memorial, United Kingdom, Panel 227

DETAILS (Numbers following a name are Military Service numbers): Tasked to drop mines in the Baltic. Shot down by night fighter (Lt Walter Brieglieb, 10/NJG3) and crashed 23:42 in the Smalandsfarvendet, east of the Danish island of Omo. Three of the dead are buried at Svino Churchyard (Svino Churchyard, Denmark's GPS Location is 55.108578 / 11.7533620; Sgt Pearce in the Omo Churchyard (Omo Churchyard, Denmark's GPS Location is 55.163168 / 11.155327); other members of the crew are remembered on the Runnymede Memorial (Runnymede Memorial, United Kingdom's GPS Location is 51.437693 / -0.564745).

This is another of the many examples of RCAF airmen of NCO rank being instantly commissioned on being posted missing. On a previous incident report, P/O Weir is listed as a F/Sgt; however here he is shown as a P/O. This is to afford the widow or next of kin an improved pension, or if the airman was taken PoW, to give him better conditions whilst in captivity.