St. Hillary's Church, Killay

Last week I wrote a blog about the war graves at St. Hillary's Church, Killay.

I just wanted to write a short very short piece.

Three men who were killed on the same day, from a plane, the Wellington GR Mk VIII, which they were onboard having being shot down by a US tanker Gulf of Mexico, and all those on board were killed. When I was researching for this. I had found that the other men were buried in different parts of the country. I made a phone call to each of the cemetery office/council who were looked after that particular cemetery where the service man was buried.

The first 'council' was Hampshire, where F. P. C. Cross was buried in a local cemetery in Aldershot, which isn't to far away from me in Surrey. I spent a Sunday afternoon to try and locate the grave. Found it and Cross is buried with his father, who had been killed in 1941. A double blow for that family. The cemetery office, told me that Cross's body was located in the sea.

The next call was to Macclesfield Cemetery office, in regards to J. Mullins, where they told me that his body from picked up from sea off Swansea Bay, Swansea.

Then a call to Bristol council who were looking after the cemetery of Canford, where the pilot G. C. V. Jamieson is buried and they told me that his body was picked up from Scarweather Point, Porthcawl, where the plane crashed into the sea. Another sad thing about Jamieson, was that he is buried at 12ft, the deepest a grave can be

The three men buried at St. Hillary's, E. H. Dawe, E. T. A. Deacon and R. P. Fahrini were all based at RAF Fairwood.

Whilst I was doing some research on the internet, I came across a website called Find a Grave, I looked up St. Hillarys, and all the men buried in the War section are all listed and a few others including a Josiah Cobley, who was killed in the Blitz of February 1941.

I came across this photograph of Canadian R. P. Fahrini, which added by his cousin F. F. Fahrini

I also found a photograph from the website of D. Iverach, who lost his life whist flying his Spitfire practicing dog fighting tactics with another Spitfire, when he crashed into the Gower landscape. Iverach was member of the 421 Squadron

Both these men came from Canada. So far from home.