Remains of a Lancaster crew discovered in Germany
Click here for more information. [I have added a photo of Sgt Raymond Rooney on behalf of Cookie, Peter]
posted by Cathie at 7:53 pm
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Previous Posts
- "A Border Man in Normandy"
- Telephone call from Dachau
- 26 Field Hygiene Section (R.A.M.C)
- "He gave his body and soul for France"
- "I want to be at peace with God"
- The King’s Chapel memorials, Gibraltar
- The Armed Forces Memorial Chamber, Gibraltar
- The Cleator & Trumpet Terrace Fire Wardens
- The 'Haunting White Lady' of Carlisle Castle
- Remembering the French railway resistants
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18 Comments:
Thanks for posting this, Catherine.
According to the newspaper article the remains of Sgt Cope and Pilot Officer Bruce Watt were found during the war and interred by the German military. Yet their final resting place could not be found after the war. They are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, as the other five aircrew have been up to the discovery.
Below are the CWGC citations for Sgt. Cope and P/O Watt.
1. Sergeant Ronald Cope
Name: COPE, RONALD
Rank: Sergeant
Service No: 1086776
Date of Death: 17/04/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 49 Sqdn.
Panel Reference: Panel 146.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Additional Information:
Son of Thomas and Mary Cope, of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire;
Husband of Rebecca Cope, of Newark-on-Trent.
----------------------------------
2. Pilot Officer Bruce Watt
Name: WATT, BRUCE EMMOTT
Rank: Pilot Officer
Service No: J/90946
Date of Death: 17/04/1943
Age: 22
Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Air Force, 49 Sqdn.
Panel Reference: Panel 178.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Additional Information:
Son of Haney and Abbie Watt, of South River, Ontario, Canada.
========================
Below are the CWGC citations for the five previously missing airmen (before re-interment):
1. Flying Officer Alex Bone
Name; BONE, ALEXANDER VICTOR
Rank: Flying Officer
Service No: 48898
Date of Death: 17/04/1943
Age: 31
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force, 49 Sqdn.
Panel Reference: Panel 123.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Additional Information:
Son of John Henry and Harriet Bone, of Horsham, Sussex.
---------------------------------
2. Flying Officer Norman Foster
Name: FOSTER, RAYMOND NORMAN PERCY
Rank: Sergeant
Service No: 545719
Date of Death: 17/04/1943
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force, 49 Sqdn.
Panel Reference: Panel 149.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Additional Information:
Next of kin details not listed
---------------------------
3. Navigator Cyril Yelland
Name: YELLAND, CYRIL WILLIAM
Rank: Sergeant
Service No: 1578189
Date of Death: 17/04/1943
Age: 23
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 49 Sqdn.
Panel Reference: Panel 170.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Additional Information:
Son of Herbert F. and Ruth Yelland, of Pentwyn, Monmouthshire.
----------------------------
4. Wireless Operator Raymond White
Name: WHITE, RAYMOND CHARLES
Rank: Sergeant
Service No: 1314559
Date of Death: 17/04/1943
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 49 Sqdn.
Panel Reference: Panel 169.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Additional Information:
Next of kin details not listed
---------------------------
5. Bomb Aimer Raymond Rooney
Name: ROONEY, RAYMOND JOSEPH
Rank: Sergeant
Service No: 1238955
Date of Death: 17/04/1943
Age: 19
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 49 Sqdn.
Panel Reference: Panel 163.
Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Additional Information:
Son of Henry and Gladys Rosaline Rooney, of Edgbaston, Birmingham.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
This Sergeant Raymond Rooney, was my father's youngest brother. No-one ever knew where he was shot down. This has verified the stories I was told as a child. Thank you.
K Cook
This Sergeant Raymond Rooney, was my father's youngest brother. No-one ever knew where he was shot down. This has verified the stories I was told as a child. Thank you.
K Cook
This Sergeant Raymond Rooney, was my father's youngest brother. No-one ever knew where he was shot down. This has verified the stories I was told as a child. Thank you.
K Cook
This Sergeant Raymond Rooney, was my father's youngest brother. No-one ever knew where he was shot down. This has verified the stories I was told as a child. Thank you.
K Cook
You're welcome. Cookie.
Your uncle was the only one of the crew of 7 that the 'Telegraph' did not publish a photograph. If you have a photograph of him, and if your family were agreeable, you could post his photograph to this website if you liked.
Thank you. Will try. I have left my telephone details on the historian Uwe Benkel's answerphone and have forwarded Raymond's photograph to both the Telegraph and Bournemouth News (just in case I fail to add it here)!
Thank you.
Sorry, I cant find any way to upload a photograph on here, but have left my telephone details on historian Uwe Benkel's answerphone and have forwarded Raymond's photograph to both the Telegraph and Bournemouth News
Cookie
Thanks anyway, Cookie.
Let us hope the newspapers will print your uncle's photograph and will always be remembered alongside his crewmates.
Cookie,
You will find help on how to post pictures in the FAQ top right, just click on the link 'WW2 Blog FAQ'.
However, on all Google blogs you have to be a Member to post pictures. You are more than welcome to join us; should you wish to do so just click on the link 'Blog Rules and Guidance' directly under the FAQ link. I look forward to hearing from you.
Peter
I have added Cookie's photo of her uncle Raymond.
Thanks very much, Cookie and Peter G. It is a very touching and poignant photograph of Sgt. Raymond Rooney.
Sgt Raymond Joseph Rooney, R.I.P.
"On the wings of an eagle,
I'm flying again".
(From the John Denver song)
Lovely
Thank you
Hi Cookie,
Very pleased that you have made yourself known. My mother's father Sgt RNP Foster (Norman) was also a crew member on ED427. My mother is now 72. My father has been trying to find relatives of Raymond Rooney for some months, using geneological sources, to try and help Uwe. Whilst he established a family tree, he couldn't find current locations for relatives of Sgt Rooney. Sadly, my mother only has photographs of six of the airmen and therefore unable to provide a picture of your Uncle, Sergeant Rooney to the press.
We now believe that relatives of 6 of the 7 crew relatives have been found, the omission being Bruce Watt at present. I see that you have contacted Uwe Benkel so no doubt you will have been directed to the information available from 2010 to date. I believe you may still be in the Midlands as are my parents, if you would wish to make contact with them.
Thank you Lizsnedker.
Yes I am still in the Midlands, I and my sisters are sadly the only ones of Raymond's family to remember him (and that only from stories passed down). As the female line change names on marriage it is impossible to trace someone as young as Raymond.
As I told Mr Benkel in a recent communication, his entire family (7), apart from two brothers who emigrated and with whom I have lost touch, were wiped out by the war or illness. So sad for their mother who had raised them despite her husband being in a wheelchair due to his injuries sustained in the First war.
A tragic family, but a familiar story sadly
I was heartbroken as a boy aged 4 when my father arrived home from the war in 1945 and l was sent me away to live with my Aunty Kath.
I was eventually reintroduced back into the family but never felt part of it, l felt different to my brother and sister and always felt the outcast.
My Aunty Kath died aged 102 in may 2016, before she died she told me that during the war my mother had disappeared for a week and when she returned she confessed that she had a love affair with a young man called Raymond White.
when l saw a photo of him l couldn,t believe the likeness, it was like looking into the mirror, it is so sad that l would have been 18 months old when Raymond died, he would,nt have known that he had a son and l may have waited all these years to find out who my real father was.
Alas l will never know and therefore never be able to find the true answer for why l felt so unwanted as a child.
Unfortunately there doesn,t seem to be anyway that a dna is possible but if any relatives of Raymond read this please get in touch @ classicmike0@gmail.com
Mike
Hi very interesting reading, I am the son(Malcolm Dennis Rooney) of Dennis Ivanhoe Rooney, (Raymond Rooney's brother) and mother Ruby Mona Rooney, I was aware that Raymond Rooney never returned after a raid but that is all i knew, I know my father also had another brother Clifford Rooney who was a watch maker in Birmingham, I lost contact with the family after returning to the then Rhodesia at age 13.
My email is mal@zsa.co.za
Malcolm, wonderful to hear from you, I have just emailed you. Kathryn
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