Another Australian Spitfire Pilot found in France.

Thanks Andy,

I visited Ranville War Cemetery and Henry Lacy Smith's (found 2010) grave and it was quite emotional.

This burial will not be any different.

Cheers

Geoff

 

I see Sgt W.J Smith grave details, now listed by CWGC as Cassel Com Cemetery Extension Row E Grave 6

He is also listed on Panel 113 Runnymede memorial.

Mark

 

I see Sgt W.J Smith grave details, now listed by CWGC as Cassel Com Cemetery Extension Row E Grave 6

He is also listed on Panel 113 Runnymede memorial.

Mark

Booked his place already?

He will be the only Air Force lad to be buried there.

Cheers

Geoff

 

I thought it was going to be Arneke?

 

I thought it was going to be Arneke?

Or is this the same place? I haven't checked.


No it isn't!

Cassel is a WW2 cemetery and in my mind more appropriate as there are only 80 burials whereas Arneke has 457 burials of which only 3 are WW2.

As well as being the only Air Force burial he will be the only 1942 burial.

Having said that, I will contact the Embassy and try to have this confirmed.

Cheers

Geoff

 

A lovely little cemetery opposite some nice buildings with a Google view of the cemetery available.

50.79886,2.49207 - Google Maps

 

I think Cassel is the best place, beautiful cemetery, within sight of where he died and was lost for so many years

 

I agree. Cassel is very appropriate.

I think I was misled into believing (from another post on this forum) that it would be Arneke and took that as 'gospel'.

A truly fitting location.

Hopefully, the RAF might task the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight with a Spitfire fly-past salute as they did with Lacy-Smith.

 

Hello everybody,
I confirm this new information.
Cassel cemetery extension is a beautiful little cemetery.
I have take pictures. I try to put it today.
In this cemetery, there are several members of Gloucestershire regiment who have a rude combat in 1940 may. The Smith's spitfire is fallen close to Glouster Bunker. There are too some 1945's heroes (the wellington regiment and polish troops).

 

Thank you, Carpi.

It is certainly my intention to attend the funeral along with my colleagues. If he has finished his tour, my son who is serving with Queen's Royal Hussars in Afghanistan will also attend. The aircraft, and Sgt Smith, were found the day that he left for Camp Bastion.

Meanwhile, if MooreK (an earlier poster) reads this, could he please contact me? I have sent an e-mail but not sure if it reached you.

We are filming parts of the Sgt Smith story in the UK this week and would very much like to use the photograph of Bill Smith eating a banana that you posted earlier.

Thank you.

 

The date has been confirmed at Cassel Cemetery.

19th April 2012, with the ceremony scheduled to commence at 1130hrs

Cheers

Geoff

 

Just bumping this up as a reminder ahead of the ceremony scheduled for 19 April.

 

the dig was illegal !

 

the dig was illegal !

Please do not make comments of this kind without posting references.

 

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight have been tasked with supporting the funeral ceremony by sending a Spitfire aircraft for a fly-past salute. A fitting tribute.

 

Hello everybody,
I confirm this new information.
Cassel cemetery extension is a beautiful little cemetery.
I have take pictures. I try to put it today.
In this cemetery, there are several members of Gloucestershire regiment who have a rude combat in 1940 may. The Smith's spitfire is fallen close to Glouster Bunker. There are too some 1945's heroes (the wellington regiment and polish troops).

Definately not! They are Czechs and not Poles. These men are from General Liska's Czechoslovak Independant Armoured Brigade and were KIA or DOW during the siege of Dunkerque.

The Czechs also received and accepted the German Garrison capitulation in the chateau at Wormhout.

 

To JLB021, just curious, please. Since your stepfather witnessed the crash of SGT WJ Smith (I assume that is what you mean in your post) on 9th May 1942, maybe he also witnessed the crashlanding of S/L Frantisek Fajtl on 5th May 1942 (Operation Circus 157) near the bunker at Hardicourt?? I would be most interested to hear about that! Were there any photos taken of Fajtl's Spitfire in Hardicourt, do you know? Thank you for any news. MiKo

 

MiKo.

There is a painting of Fajtl and Pavlik's Spitfires going down in flames and much stuff concerning this particular Circus action. A commemoration ceremony is to take place in Ypres on Saturday May 5th at the gravesides of the fallen pilots.

Here you go: WW I & WW II Battlefield Tours (Flanders) - WW II TOURS AND CONTACT

Best wishes

Chris

 

Sgt William J Smith, RAAF, with his Spitfire, May 1942.

 

from today's Melbourne Age newspaper. Link to the story below

A family finally lays Spitfire hero to rest

Chris Johnston

April 14, 2012

THEY thought he would be forever lost fathoms deep in the English Channel, in body at first, and then over time in spirit only.
But he wasn't. The last traces of the Melbourne World War II fighter pilot Bill Smith were found in his wrecked Spitfire on land, five metres under a French farmer's paddock.
This was last year. Filmmakers were looking for another Spitfire - the devilishly fast, single-seat British warplane made famous in the Battle of Britain. Instead they found the bones of Sergeant William James Smith and the bones of his aircraft, 70 years missing.
Advertisement: Story continues below
His brother, Bert Smith, 84, is his only surviving direct relative. He lives with his wife, June, in suburban Mentone. He explains that they found a dogtag in the ruins with his beloved brother's name on it but attached to the dogtag were two other things: a lucky threepenny coin and a tiny St Christopher pendant.
St Christopher was the young Christ's guardian in Catholic stories. His bodyguard, if you like, who carried him across bodies of water. When Bert Smith found out that his brother was not lost at sea but discovered on earth, after all this time, he was stunned.
''The family always thought, and the RAAF always thought, that he was in the channel,'' he says. ''I thought perhaps one day a fishing trawler would hook up his plane and he would be in it.''
On Monday Bert and June and 14 family members, including children (they have nine), grandchildren, nieces, nephews and grand-nieces and nephews, go to northern France for Bill Smith's reinterment. It happens next Thursday at Cassel cemetery with full military honours. It will be a burial with ''the dignity and respect he deserves'', said Air Vice-Marshal Mark Skidmore, AM, of the RAAF. Representatives from the Australian and French governments will also be there.
Bert Smith is doing the eulogy for a brother who was 10 years older and a ''father-figure'' in the true sense. ''I'm sure I will cry,'' says Bert. ''I am that sort of person. But I owe it to myself and Bill to hold up and give a good address and make sure he goes off in the right way.''
Bill went to war in 1941. He was 23 and had been working at the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works, like his father, Samuel, and his mother, Freda, had done. Bert was 13. The pair, and a sister, had been living together in a house in Thornbury for two years.
Their parents lived up near Kinglake, at Wallaby Creek. Bill had come to the city to board at Melbourne High School and stayed on when he left.
That's when Bert joined him and started going to Northcote High School. He remembers driving around in his brother's old Whippet car to see Collingwood play at Victoria Park.
Bill looked out for him and guided him, gave him confidence and knowledge. Old family photos show a relationship between a mentor and a younger man eager to learn.
''He was a definitely a person who tried to guide us. Our father was a quiet man. Bill was an older brother in all senses. I never think of him in any other way than as a handsome fighter pilot.''
When he left for war, Bert stayed in the Thornbury house by himself, catching the bus to school, cooking for himself and sometimes riding his bike the 50 kilometres to Wallaby Creek. ''People don't quite believe me when I tell them that,'' he says.
His brother enlisted on Remembrance Day in 1940 and started in Britain with 452 Squadron in late 1941, and 457 Squadron, also Spitfire-equipped, in April 1942.
A month later he was ambushed by a pack of German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters while helping escort Allied bombers over northern France.
There was a dogfight, he went down from 20,000 feet. He had been on the verge of being commissioned as an officer.
Then he was gone. The family now feel like he has come back, in a strange way, to be seen off right.
''I'm feeling very proud to be able to do this for him,'' says Bill. ''Put this thing to bed. Where we know where he is.''



Read more: A family finally lays Spitfire hero to rest