HELP - Riddle of RA Glider Officer Killed D-DAY

Gentlemen,

I am researching a Samuel Lyons who was commisioned 2nd Lieutenant in the South Staffordshire Regiment in November 1942 and next appears in the L.G. on his transfer as a Lieutenant into the Royal Artillery on the 3rd of August 1943. He was serving with the 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery Royal Artillery and appears in a full battery photograph in late 1943. Their mission on D-Day 1944 was to land by glider and support the left flank of the Normandy invasion force to prevent any German Armour reaching the landing beaches.

Further research is needed and I hope someone on the forum may be able to assist here as it unclear exactly what happened in the early hours of the 6th of June 1944. However I know the Glider Carrying Lieutenant S.A.Lyons and a number of his battery was brought down when the tug plane was probably shot down by a night fighter (too far out over the channel to be Ack Ack?). However, the glider ditched very heavily as a result there where many immediate fatalaties, but an eye witness who survived recalls Lieut. Lyons surviving the impact and clinging to the wrecked glider till it broke up, after treading water for some time, either exhausted or as a result of wounds sustained during the crash, Second Lieutenant Samuel Alfred Lyons was taken away by the current and drowned.

Lyons body was washed up on a French beach some 4 weeks after the crash and identifed via his dogtags.

I just wondered if you might be able to point me into the direction of which glider he was on and what happened to the crew and other occupants.

Look Forward to Hearing from you all

Richard

 

Hi Richard,

I hope this is of some help.

Lt. Lyons was in Glider Chalk Number 99 it was towed by F/Lt. Hobbs of 644 Squadron in a Halifax R.LL340, they took off from Tarrant Rushton airfield at 01.25 as part of the third wave of gliders to land on Drop Zone 'N'. It seems the tow rope became detached due to flak and crashed into the sea.

The glider pilots were S/Sgt New (KIA) & Sgt Gibbons (KIA) other passengers were Gnr. Taylor (KIA), Bdr Hill (KIA), Gnr. Machin (KIA), Bdr. Leatherbarrow with a Jeep and trailer.

S/Sgt. New's body washed up on the shore of Le Havre, all were drowned except for Bdr. Leatherbarrow, who managed to survive.

If you look at these files from the Natioanl Archives Kew you could check the missing files WO 361/503 & WO 361/504 which will hold information on Glider 99 and you could check the Anti Tank file WO 361/526.

I hope this is of help.

brithm

 

Brithm,

Wow thankyou so much for that I am absolutely astounded.

Richard

 

Birthm, superb reply, rep sent.

 

Excellent reply by brithm.

 

Here are the CWGC Links for the casualties:

Gibbons - Glider Pilot Regiment
New - Glider Pilot Regiment

CWGC - Casualty Details Lyons

CWGC - Casualty Details Hill
CWGC - Casualty Details Taylor
CWGC - Casualty Details Machin

I couldn't find Bdr. Letherbarrow's army number in CWGC, so likely he survived the war.

 

Well done brithm and give me a shout if you can't get to Kew yourself Richard.

 

Brithm

I think that the images that you posted come from the file WO 361/504 and not WO 361/503 as your annotations to the photographs suggest

John

 

John,

I concur I think they are too, my labelling is poor.

All the best

Brithm

 

Brithm

Fantastic information - I hadn't known about these files - another series to add to my list of things to look at!

Regards

Tom

 

Hi all,

Gunner John MACHIN was initially buried at Villers Sur Mer, Calvados, and was later taken to Banneville La Campagne War Cemetery.

Regards,

Ludo

 

Hi

Just come across this thread and wanted to congratulate Brithm on an excellent piece of research.

Hill is on the Walsall RoH and Lyons on Hednesford War Memorial.

Regards,

Graeme

 

Hi graeme,

Thanks for the praise, very much appreciated.

Here is Lyons memorial page on carl Shilleto's Fallen Heroes of Normandy website

http://www.fallenheroesofnormandy.org/Servicemen/Detail/23152

 

Dear Richard,
My name is Joe and I am new to this site. Unfortunately at 79 years old I have to wait for my granddaughter to type for me. For a number of years now I and my family have been trying to discover where my uncle, who I knew as a child, where and how he was killed in action. I saw your site regarding Sam Lyons and finally at last we were on to something. My uncle was R.K Taylor army NO.492347. We know he was killed in action 6/06/44. We have been to visit his grave on a number of occasions and he is buried at Ranville Airborne Cemetry. When I was 6 years of age I remember going with my mother and grandmother to visit Sam Lyons family because while there was a difference in rank they were close friends as both had been in the south Staffordshire regiment as prior to volunteering t become a glider soldier. I will when we know how, post a photo of my uncle Ken but I was very moved when I found this article that you have written. If you need further information please contact me.
Yours,
Joe

 

Hi Ludo, do you know why Machin was transferred to another cemetery?

Regards,

 

Simple answer is No, but you have helped flag up a new problem with CWGC revamped website, as there is no reference to a previous burial.concentration.

 

Hi Camulard,
John MACHIN was a passenger of Horsa CN99. The glider ditched. All but one onboard drowned. John MACHIN body was found on the beach at Villers Sur Mer Where he was buried in a temporary grave. In 1945 he was transfered To a military cemetery.
Every soldier who was not initialy buried in a local churchyard or civilian cemetery was transfered to a commonwealth war cemetery between 1945 and 1947 for the latest tranfers.
The CWGC put on line the Graves Concentration Reports. When this document exists it is possible to see the initial placés of burials. But I notice that in many reports are not available for some reason.
I studied in details the Ranville War Cemetery. The soldiers buried in plot IA to VIA were all initially buried somewhere else. But not all graves concentration reports are available.

 

Thanks.

 

Hi, I'm in contact with people of the city of Villers-sur-Mer to know if they have more informations about John H. MACHIN. They gave me a strange information. Original message (in French):

Artilleur enterré dans le cimetière de Villers, provenant du planeur qui s'est posé aux Meurdries:
Coordonnées: 282825 - date du décès 6 juin 1944
4914399 Gunner John MACHIN 26 ans, 4th Airl.AntiTank Bty - Banneville la Campagne XVII-C-6
Originaire de Lichfield, Staffordshire

Translation:
Gunner buried in the Villers-sur-Mer cemetery, came from the Glider landed in Les Meurdries area:
Geographical coordinates: 282825 - Killed in action June 6, 1944
4914399 Gunner John MACHIN, Age 26, 4th Airl.AntiTank Bty - Banneville la Campagne XVII-C-6
From Lichfield, Staffordshire

I have a picture of the location, but I don't know how I put it on the forum, but it's far of the beach!