Edwin WARD

162829, Flight Lieutenant. b. 1920, Clayton d. 19th March 1945 (aged 24).

One of the last casualties to die in the war, Edwin belonged to 77 Squadron, R.A.F. The squadron had been flying Halifax bombers for the previous two years and by this point had notched up hundreds of mission credits.

Edwin was the son of Alton and Edith Ward and had been in Clayton all his life. Alton later became Lord Mayor of Bradford in the 1950’s.

Flight RG529

Edwin was the pilot for his bomber, a Halifax MkIII , serial number RG529. On their final mission the crew’s target was Witten, a town just south of Dortmund. On Sunday, 18 March 1945, RG529 of 77 squadron took off from Full Sutton on a night raid. His mission and of the other crew members was planned for Monday, 19 March 1945. He departed at 00:47 so after midnight, now the 19th March.

They managed to drop their bombs but afterwards inexplicably headed south-west instead of north-west. This could be for any number of reasons, the most likely being that they were damaged over the target and realised it was going to be impossible to get home intact. By this point the Allies were making their way across the Rhineland as part of the final phase of their advance so RG529 might have decided to try to make it into their Allied held territory.
The plane never made it home and crashed.

Two explanations have emerged due to the apparent discrepancy on the dates of the crews deaths. The night of their raid was the 18th March (he date shown in the squadron history as to when their plane was lost) while none of the crew is listed as dying until the 19th.

Collision with a Lancaster

One explanation is that the plane actually took off at 00:47 and crashed on the 19th March. An insight int what happened can be found in RAF 77 Squadron records. Another researcher found records of an investigation that revealed on the 19th March 1945 two aircraft crashed at Merklinde, four miles west of Dortmund; both aircraft fell at the same time and within one hundred yards of each other. The bodies of all members of both crews were found in the wreckage by the Germans and there can be no doubt that all were killed instantly.

Subsequent enquiries among the inhabitants of Merklinde failed to disclose the place of burial of the bodies and by the time the Missing Research and Enquiry service was operating in the area no identifiable wreckage of the aircraft remained.

It was thought that the crews had probably been buried in the main cemetery at Dortmund, but no reference to any burials from these crashes appeared in the cemetery register, which otherwise appeared to have been carefully kept. 

Research looking into Pilot Officer Selwyn De Vis, has found following investigation that a group of unmarked and unregistered graves in Dortmund Cemetery were exhumed and it was possible to establish the identity of Selwyn De Vis and the other crew members.

THE CREW: RG529.

RAF Flight Lieutenant E Ward – Pilot RAF

Flight Sergeant J A Anderson – Navigator

RAF Sergeant E A C Pearce – Flight Engineer

RAF Pilot Officer T M Kerr – Air Bomber

RAAF Pilot Officer S G de Vis – Wireless Operator

RAF Flight Sergeant J Dyke – Air Gunner

RAF Flight Sergeant W J Edwards – Air Gunner

The researcher found that Fraulein Isle Schwars of Nerbeds, Germany wrote on two occasions to Mrs de Vis, Pilot Officer De Vis’s mother, about the place of burial and the exhumation of his body. His uniform was identified as a different colour to the other crew members and the person was assumed by locals to be Australian.

Looking on CWGC all the crews graves from Edwins aircraft are buried at Rheinburg war cemetery and adjacent to each other forming a row. Expanding this row reveals another 8 men who died on the same night buried in a block from 13.F.1 to 13.F.15.

In researching one man from the adjacent graves; Wireless operator; F/Sgt E. Perrault RCAF, It is possible to pin point the Lancaster bomber that collied with Edwin Wards Halifax Bomber as 405 Squadron, RCAF Lancaster III, PB-451, “LQ-G”.

This is a photograph of the crew of the Lancaster bomber involved in the collision. Courtesy of http://www.lancaster-archive.com/aircrew-photos.htm.

The crew of the Lancaster took off from Gransden Lodge at 01:32 on 19th March 1945, all are buried in the Rheinberg War Cemetery.

The CREW : PB-451, “LQ-G”

Flight Officer George Ernest Peaker RCAF,Pilot;

Sgt Alexander Kirkcaldy RAF, Flight Engineer;

Flight Officer Ernest Hayes RCAF, Navigator;

Flight Officer Robert Stuart Butterworth RCAF, bomb aimer;

Sgt Roy Peter Smith RAF, Visual bomb aimer;

Warrant Officer Class II Ralph Murray Baker RCAF, Wireless operator; 

Flight Sargeant Ernest Francis Perrault RCAF, Mid upper gunner;

Flight Sargeant Joseph Paul Hector Adam RCAF, Rear gunner.

Sgt Alexander Kirkcaldy at 36 was above the average age of operational airmen. Flight Officer Robert Butterworth was an American from Richville, New York.

Macabre explanation

The second explanation from a fellow researcher has found evidence for an alternative and much more sinister explanation – that after the plane started to go down all the crew, including Edwin, bailed out safely but were captured by the German army. They were held for several hours before being executed on the orders of a Lieutenant Karl Schaefer.

The evidence for this is from part of the War Crimes Trials which happened at the end of the war: Lt. Schaefer and one of the guards were given a minimum of 15 years’ imprisonment for this callous act against unarmed servicemen.
The other crew were: P.O. Selwyn George DeVis (aged 21, from Magill, S. Australia), Sgt. Robert Alan Clark Pearce – Flight Engineer (aged 21, from Scarborough), P.O. John Alexander Anderson – Navigator (aged 23, from Hounslow), P.O. Thomas Macdonald Kerr – Bomber, F/Sgt. James Dyke – Air Gunner (aged 21, from Stoke on Trent), P.O. Wiliam James Edwards – Air Gunner (aged 21, from Liverpool).

Memories of Edwin

A more poignant insight into this man’s life still survives today, as he was a good friend of Rene Sutcliffe, who grew up in Clayton and worked as a postmistress. Just three weeks before he was killed, Edwin had been home on leave and attended a dance on the last Saturday with Rene and her friends. When his telegram ‘Missing Presumed Killed’ came through she was obviously distraught, with tears rolling down her cheeks, but even more distressing was the phrase at the bottom ‘NO INFORMATION TO BE GIVEN TO THE PRESS. REPEAT NO INFORMATION TO BE GIVEN TO THE PRESS.’ Up to this day she has never known why this strong message was given, as it had never been on any of the previous telegrams she had delivered, so perhaps gives further credence to the Lt. Schaefer argument?

Edwin is buried at Rheinberg War Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, with the rest of his crew at his side. His headstone is inscribed “A dearly loved son and brother”.