By Rosalind Russell – A former Espanola couple, police officers, have spent the last week overseas, touring but also honouring a family member who died during World War Two.
Ed and Paula Stortz, both former police officers in Espanola, were part of an entourage of more than 50 relatives of the crew who attended a special commemoration on Cleeve Hill in Cheltenham, England on Monday.
He was there to honour his great, great uncle Air Gunner Flying Officer John Glenn of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Colonel Jonathan Bouchard MSM, CD representing The High Commission of Canada in the UK and The Royal Canadian Air Force, was joined by MP for Tewkesbury Cameron Thomas (ex RAF); Royal Air Forces Association Air Marshals, Air Vice-Marshals, Group Captains; members of Cleeve Common Trust and a cohort of 78 Squadron with their OC Wing Commander Ian Evans and Flight Sergeant Paul Rigby.
Wreaths were laid by: Colonel Jonathan Bouchard, MSM, CD: on behalf of the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom and the Royal Canadian Air Force; Air Marshal Sir Dusty Miller KBE: on behalf of the Royal Air Forces Association, Cheltenham Branch; Constable Edward Stortz, Windsor Police Service, Canada: on behalf of the relatives of the crew of MZ311 and Wing Commander Ian Evans, LLB MA RAF: Officer Commanding 78 Squadron, Swanwick.
A flypast by an RAF A400M saluted fallen comrades.
Monday’s ceremony to dedicate the Memorial on Cleeve Common to the crew of the Halifax bomber that crashed in 1944 marked the culmination of four years of work for Cleeve
Common Trust. The trust was contacted in 2020 by a military aviation enthusiast in Australia, who had heard about the downing of the plane from friends in Cheltenham and was looking into it. Through the investigation reports from the time and accounts from a few local residents who were children at the time, they were able to narrow down the crash location.
And, just by chance, a small fragment of the aircraft found in the gorse bushes in 2020 gave a more accurate location.
The Trust decided to erect a monument, designed by Mark Wilks, with a plaque on a piece of stone from one of the quarries faces on the Common, which was unveiled in late 2022.
The Trust was pleased to support the Dedication Ceremony organized by the Cheltenham Branch of the RAF Association, and the plaque is now a permanent tribute to the gallantry and service of the seven young men who lost their lives in the crash, along with many other men and women who died serving their country.
The flight crew of MZ311 included
PILOT: Flight Lieutenant Charles Maurice Howes (J/25977) Royal Canadian Air Force
Navigator: Flying Officer Elton Eugene Freeman (J/28223) Royal Canadian Air Force
Air Bomber: Flying Officer George William McCartney (J/28883) Royal Canadian Air Force
Flight Sergeant: John J McArdle (1684019) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Air Gunner Flying: Officer John Alexander Glenn (J/36021) Royal Canadian Air Force
Air Gunner Pilot: Officer Hugh Brannan Hamilton (J/89908) Royal Canadian Air Force
Wireless Operator: Sergeant Emmanuel Henry Harris (1423759) Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
The story behind the historic dedication
With the end of World War II almost in sight, these seven young airmen took to the air in Halifax bomber MZ311 in the late evening of 25th of August 1944, and into the teeth of enemy flak and night fighters as they had done so very many times in the preceding months. Several of the Royal
Canadian Air Force crew trace their roots to England and Scotland.
On the night of Friday 25th August 1944 Bomber Command operated a total of 1,311 sorties. MZ311 had been laying sea mines (Gardening) off La Pallice in the Bay of Biscay, the deep sea port of La Rochelle, of which MZ311 was one.
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, but all perished in a crash on the Cleeve Common escarpment, overlooking the Cotswold town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, during the early hours, (approximately 02:20hrs) on the morning of the 26th August 1944.
Research by Judith Wordsworth (a local General Aviation pilot) and Nick Price (RAFA Cheltenham committee member) over the last year identified and located many 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 and unveiled (7th December 2022) in a short ceremony organized by the Cheltenham Branch of the Royal Air Forces Association.
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 we, and others, proudly and thankfully remember them as we do with the Memorial and the dedication held on August 24th.
Photos:
1. Official RCAF photo of Pilot Officer John Alexander Glenn – RCAF Archives
2. Burial Notice archived in RCAF archives for Pilot Officer John Alexander Glenn – RCAF Archives
3. 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.
4. Ed and Paula Stortz, grand nephew of Pilot Office John Alexander Glenn
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