By Rosalind Russell – Representing his family and his police service, a former Espanola Police officer will be going to England for a historical dedication.
Ed Stortz, who is now a member of the Windsor Police, is also the grandnephew of a fallen hero, Air Gunner Flying Officer John Alexander Glenn (J/36021) of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Glenn, born in North Bay (Ferris) in 1925, attended North Bay Collegiate Vocational School and was a machine operator before enlisting in February 1943.
Stortz says he, his wife Paula, and daughter Jeana Martin, will be flying to the Memorial Dedication to honour and remember the crew of the Halifax III bomber (MZ311 EY-M) which crashed into Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in the early hours of August 26th, 1944.
He adds a piece of the plane was found in August 2020 and a memorial installed, so an official dedication will now take place as part of the 80th anniversary of the crash this August 26th.
Research, by Nicholas Price and Judith Wordsworth, found surviving relatives in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and across the UK and culminates in bringing some other relatives together including: the daughter of the Pilot Flight Lieutenant Howes (RCAF); the grandson and great grandson of Flight Sergeant McArdle (RAF); step-daughters of Wireless Operator Sergeant Harris (RAF); and many nephews, nieces, great nephews and nieces and great great nephews and nieces and cousins of the crew of MZ311.
Local dignitaries, members of Cleeve Common Trust, The Royal Air Forces Association, a representative of The High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom and The Royal Canadian Air Force and crew relatives will all be honouring and remembering these airmen.
Weather permitting, there will be a flypast by a Royal Canadian Air Force C130 in salute to fallen comrades.
Stortz adds his great uncle is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery (43. E. 9. 239) in Surrey, the United Kingdom, so they hope to also visit his final resting place.
Here is the story behind the upcoming historical ceremony as shared by the Royal Air Forces Association …
With the end of World War II almost in sight, a fact unknowable at the time, these seven young airmen bravely took to the air in Halifax bomber MZ311 in the late evening of of August 25th, 1944, and into the teeth of enemy flak and night fighters as they had done so very many times in the preceding months.
Britain depended on vital supplies from North America and the Empire in the Second World War.
These had to be transported in merchant ships across the Atlantic Ocean, where they could be attacked by German submarines (U-boats) and warships.
The U-boats were based in massive pens that were well-protected by air defences and almost impervious to bombing.
Laying mines in coastal areas close to the pens was a vitally important means of destroying U-boats or impeding their transit.
On the night of Friday 25th August 1944 Bomber Command operated a total of 1,311 sorties. 412 aircraft assigned to attack the Opel Motor Works at Rüsselsheim; 196 aircraft to attack Darmstadt; 334 aircraft to attack Brest; 182 training aircraft on a diversionary sweep across the North Sea; 68 aircraft assigned to Patrol Duties; 47 aircraft on Radio Counter Measures; 36 aircraft to attack Berlin and 22 other targets; 6 aircraft on Resistance work; 2 aircraft assigned to a preliminary reconnaissance of the various targets and 6 aircraft laying sea mines (Gardening) off La Pallice in the Bay of Biscay, the deep sea port of La Rochelle, of which MZ311 was one.
This Gardening area was known as Cinnamon & Young Cinnamon.
“Gardening” was the RAF term given to dropping mines from bomber aircraft into the sea.
The mines were “sown” near ports and harbours, inland waterways, estuaries and in busy shipping lanes.
The goal was to disrupt enemy naval activities and hinder shipping traffic.
Having completed their hazardous mission off the west coast of France they returned towards the safety and comfort of their home base at RAF Breighton in Yorkshire, some unknown occurrence caused them to perish in a crash high up on the escarpment of Cleeve Common, overlooking the Cotswold town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.
A small fragment of aircraft wreckage was found on Cleeve Common in August 2020 and, following extensive and painstaking research, was identified as being the final remaining part of Halifax MZ311 which crashed there during the early hours, at approximately 02:20hrs on the morning of August 26, 1944.
Further research over the last year identified and located many of the surviving relatives of MZ311’s 7-man crew.
The simple stone marker, with a plaque bearing the names of the lost airmen at the site where the aircraft crashed, was erected by Cleeve Common Trust.
This was unveiled on the 7th of December 2022 in a short ceremony organized by the Cheltenham Branch of the Royal Air Forces Association.
The courage of these men, alongside their contemporaries, to launch repeatedly into the night knowing full well that the odds against their survival were very high, is simply astonishing by any measure, which makes their loss on their way home and over English soil even more tragic.
The statistics on aircraft and crew losses serve to remind us of the horrendous cost paid by Bomber Command as it sent out its crews night after night.
The tribute Sir Winston Churchill paid to Bomber Command: “All your operations were planned with great care and skill. They were executed in the face of desperate opposition and appalling hazards, they made a decisive contribution to Germany’s final defeat. The conduct of the operations demonstrated the fiery gallant spirit which animated your aircrews, and the high sense of duty of all ranks under your command. I believe that the massive achievements of Bomber Command will long be remembered as an example of duty nobly done”.
We owe our freedom today to the unflinching courage and determination of these men, and a key role of the Royal Air Forces Association is to ensure that everyone remembers the fallen heroes.
Photos: 1. Memorial – Pilot Officer John Alexander Glenn is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens.
2. Official RCAF photo of Pilot Officer John Alexander Glenn – RCAF Archives
3. Burial Notice archived in RCAF archives for Pilot Officer John Alexander Glenn – RCAF Archives
4. Death Notice of Pilot Officer John Alexander Glenn as it appeared in the North Bay Nugget in late August 1944. RCAF – part of Operation Picture Me Archive.
5. Ed and Paula Stortz, grand nephew of Pilot Office John Alexander Glenn
Submit News Tip
