February 14, 2018

remembrance ni

Focus of Remembrance

Knockbreda Parish, Belfast

As well as James Stuart Davidson (see today’s Roll of Honour), there were also six further parishioners who served in the RAF in WW2 -

+HILL, Frederick Charles

RAFVR. Flying Officer. 62649. Died 18/11/1942. Son of Son of Charles V. and Evelyn I. Hill, of Belfast. Alamein Memorial, Egypt. Column 248. Knockbreda Parish WM and Family memorial in churchyard +IEVERS, Robert Valentine RAFV. Sergeant Observer. 1126184. Died 30/11/1942. 418 Sqdn. Runnymeade Memorial, Panel 86. Knockbreda Parish WM +McKENNA, Charles Cecil

RAFVR. Sergeant, A.G.1795560. Died 12/04/1944. Aged 20. 50 Sqdn. Son of Charles K. and Jessie McKenna, of Page 1 February 14, 2018 Belfast. Runnymeade Memorial, Panel 233. Knockbreda Parish WM +SMITH, William Herbert Robertson Smith

RAFVR. Flight Sergeant. 758003. Died 19/10/1941. Aged 20. 220 Sqdn. Son of Charles B. and Mary E. Smith, of Belfast. Knockbreda Parish WM +WILSON, William Ernest RAFVR. Flight Sergeant (Pilot).1125341. Died 31/08/1942. Aged 23. 223 Sqdn. Son of David and Anna M. Wilson, of Belfast. El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt. Knockbreda Parish WM John Faulkner, Sergeant Wireless Officer, Knockbreda Parish WM. - Remembrance Ni would be grateful for further information on James Also named on the parish War Memorial is - +DON, Andrew Nicol Durran Don

Royal Tank Regiment,40th (7th Bn The Kings Regt [Liverpool]). R.A.C. Lieutenant. 219950. Died 13/10/1943. Aged 30. Son of the Revd. Andrew Chalmers Don, and Charlotte Hamilton Don, of Warkworth, Northumberland; husband of Mary Kathleen Don. M.A.(Oxon.). Suez War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. Warkworth WM, Knockbreda Parish WM Twenty men from the parish were killed in WW1. In the parish churchyard there are family memorials to the following -

Page 2 February 14, 2018 Black, C M, , 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Irish Fusiliers, 09/07/1917

Hill, F C, 62649, Flying Officer, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 18/11/1942

Lanyon, W M, , Captain, Royal Irish Rifles, 05/04/1915

Lee, F, , Captain, Royal Army Medical Corps, 01/07/1916

Lyons, W H StJ, , Lieutenant, Middlesex Regiment, 01/11/1918

Marshall, O W, 7809762, Private, Pioneer Corps, 21/09/1944

Rea, H F, , Captain, Royal Irish Rifles, 16/08/1917

There is also the grave of Captain EH Cage, MC, of the Royal Horse Artillery, who died 19/06/1931

Roll of Honour - February 14

The following from Northern Ireland died on this date and represent their comrades

WW2

+POTTS, Stewart

RN. Stoker 1st Class. D/SKX 942. Died 14/02/1942. Age: 21. HMS Sultan. Son of Stewart and Annie Potts, Lisburn.

Page 3 February 14, 2018 (Lisburn Standard 12/03/1943). Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 70. Lisburn WM

+DAVIDSON, James Stuart

RAFVR. Flight Lieutenant (Air Gunner). 81393. Died 14/02/1945. Aged 43. 635 Sqdn. Pathfinders. Son of James and Annie Davidson; husband of Eva Davidson, of Belfast. Berlin 1939 - 45 War Cemetery, Germany. Knockbreda Parish WM

+DONOHUE, John Richard Charles

RAFVR. Flying Officer. 178567. DFC. Died 14/02/1945. Aged 21. 635 Sqdn. RAFPE 1941 - 42 QUB. Son of Charles B. Donohue and Eva E. Donohue, of Farlington, Hampshire. QUB RH

+ROBINSON, Samuel John RN. Leading Seaman. C/JX 204400. MiD. Died 14/02/1945. Age 23. HM MTB 798. Son of George and Sarah Robinson, Ballymena. Chatham Naval Memorial, Panel 80

Yesterday, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019, a local Roya lAir Force Pilot flew across Belfast Airport for probably the last Tornado GR4 visit to Northern Ireland. The fast jet will officially retire next month. The GR4 has been in service since 1979 and we are very sad to see it go!

Page 4 February 14, 2018 Events on this day - February 14

1939 +Germany launches the battleship Bismarck. 1940 +Britain announces that all merchant ships will be armed. 1941 +Hitler starts to apply pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite pact. +Kurmuk near the Ethiopian border in Sudan is recaptured by British forces. Leading elements of the German 5th Light Division arrive at Tripoli and are immediately moved up to Sirte to take up defensive positions. +Western Africa front: South African forces conquer Kismayu in the Italian Somalia. 1942 +Bomber Command is issued with Directive No.22, which ends the recent period of aircraft conservation by the RAF, although attacks are still not to be pressed in the face of bad weather or ‘extreme hazard’. The reason for this change is that the new Lancaster bomber, was just entering service and that Bomber Command was now equipped with a new navigation device called GEE, which it was hoped would make locating targets easier. However, it only had a range of 400 miles and could be jammed. +The Russians introduce universal labour conscription.

Page 5 February 14, 2018 +The Japanese being their invasion of Sumatra with airborne landings at Palembang. +The Battle of Pasir Panjang ends in Japanese victory. +The Battle of Bilin River begins in Burma. +The British Air Ministry issues the Area bombing directive, ordering RAF bombers to attack the German industrial workforce and the morale of the German populace through bombing German cities and their civilian inhabitants. +British auxiliary patrol vessel Li Wo singlehandedly attacks a Japanese convoy north of the Bangka Strait, sinking the lead transport before being sunk by the squadron of escorting warships. +The British gunboat HMS Grasshopper is bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft off Rusuk Island. +The American converted troopship SS President Taylor is grounded on the coral reef at Canton Island and can not be salvaged despite extensive efforts. +Sarawakian steamship Vyner Brooke iss bombed and sunk by Japanese aircraft while evacuating nurses and wounded servicemen out of Singapore. +The German submarines U-178 and U-336 are commissioned. +1943 The 5th Panzerarmee under von Arnim, forces the retreat of the US 2nd Corps, inflicting very heavy losses in the battle of the Kasserine Pass. +Dakotas of No. 31 Sqn and Hudsons of No. 194 Sqn begin air supply missions to Chindit forces working behind enemy

Page 6 February 14, 2018 lines in Burma. Chindits were small pockets of highly trained British troops, usually with local guides, who operated behind enemy lines, cutting enemy lines of communication. The name was taken from that of a mythical Burmese God. +The VMF-124 Corsairs joing other fighters escorting Liberators on a raid to Kahili, Bougainville. They meet 50 enemy aircraft and only 3 Zeros are shot down while 10 US aircraft are lost; 4 P-38s, 2 P-40s, 2 Liberators and 2 of the Corsairs. This engagement becomes known as the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”, an inauspicious debut for the Corsair. 1944

Page 7 February 14, 2018 A makeshift grave of an U.S. Marine, marked by his poncho and bayoneted rifle on the island of Saipan, Mariana Islands 1944. +Eisenhower sets up the SHAEF HQ in Britain. +The Americans announce that the Japanese remaining in Solomon’s are now trapped. 1945 +Thousands of bombs destroy Dresden. The operation ordered by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthue Harris became controversial. Incendiary bombs dropped by British and US planes killed tens of thousands of civilians. +Canadian and British troops reach the Rhine, 40 miles Northwest of Duisberg.

+The 1st Ukrainian Front encircles Breslau which has been declared a fortress under the command of Gauleiter Hanke. +The siege of Budapest ends as the Soviets take the city. Only 785 German and Hungarian soldiers managed to escape. +The British Indian 4th Corps begins to cross Irrawaddy and strike into the Japanese rear. The first use of napalm is made in Burma. +Uruguay declares war against Germany. Acknowledgments CWGC Knockbreda Parish

Page 8 February 14, 2018

remembrance ni

The remembrance ni programme is overseen by Very Rev Dr Houston McKelvey OBE, QVRM, TD who served as Chaplain to 102 and 105 Regiments Royal Artillery (TA), as Hon. Chaplain to RNR and as Chaplain to the RBL NI area and the Burma Star Association NI. Dr McKelvey is a Past President of Queen’s University Services Club. He may be contacted at [email protected]

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