1811925 Sergeant John Joseph ZAMMIT, Air Gunner, 9 Squadron RAF: 23/03/1944

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by Della, Feb 7, 2014.

  1. Della

    Della Member

    Johnnie Zammit was killed in action on 23rd March 1944 whilst returning from a bombing mission to Frankfurt. The plane crashed in Belgium. I am trying to locate any of his family members as I have a personal item of Johnnie's that I would very much like to return to his family

    Many thanks

    Della
    image.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Della

    I have tried, just in case, running his name through Ancestry, but as I only have UK and Irish access it came up with nothing. I was hoping that perhaps his parents might (Emanuel and Celestine Bottiche) as they could have been born in the UK and emigrated. So it looks as though someone with access to Canadian records is required.

    What makes you sure he was Canadian?? and do you know which one he is in the photo??

    TD
     
  3. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Zammit is a very common surname in Malta, my old Spanish language teacher was a Zammit.
     
  4. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Checked out the CWGC site:

    ZAMMIT, JOHN JOSEPH

    Rank:
    Sergeant
    Trade:
    Air Gnr.
    Service No:
    1811925
    Date of Death:
    23/03/1944
    Regiment/Service:
    Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

    9 Sqdn.
    Grave Reference
    X. 17. 29.
    Cemetery
    BRUSSELS TOWN CEMETERY
    Additional Information:
    Son of Emanuel and Celestina Bottiche Zammit.

    Della, knowing his service number and with the information above you could apply for his service records at https://www.gov.uk/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records#how-to-apply-for-service-personnel-records there is a specific section for RAF personnel. His service records should provide the details of his address at the time, parents or next of kin, these details will help you further your quest.

    TD
     
  5. Della

    Della Member

    Hi bamboo43 and TD.

    Thank you for your input. We had also thought the name could be Maltese. We had found the information regarding Johnnie's RAF background but I didn't know we could make further checks through his service record. Will check out the website you gave me - thank you again. During the war he was billeted in my late Mum's home and she talked very fondly of him. She was only 6 or 7 when she met him so I'm sure his Canadian accent quite overwhelmed her! He was definitely from Canada. We have recently found a watch which he left behind on the day of his fateful last flight and my Mum had left a letter with it wondering if he left the watch because he had a premonition that he wasn't coming home..... Fanciful maybe but it did make me think.... It's a Hamilton watch and is engraved 'To John with love from Helen Jan 1st 1937 x' This is why I am trying to locate Johnnie's family as I'm sure this watch will be significant to them. In the photo we found on another website, Johnnie is third from the right.

    Della
     
  6. Della

    Della Member

    We have already find out that Johnnie's parents were Emanuel and Celestine Bottiche Zammit
     
  7. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Della,

    It is a very worthy thing you are trying to do. I wish you luck in your quest. :)

    Steve
     
  8. Tullybrone

    Tullybrone Senior Member

    Hi,

    Just a thought - post war Canadian Voters lists are on Ancestry UK. You may be able to
    Trace the Zammit family that way.

    Steve Y
     
  9. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    The only Canadian 'catalogues' available to me on Ancestry are the 4 listed below:

    Canada, British Regimental Registers of Service, 1756-1900 Military 467,838

    UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Registers of Soldiers Who Served in Canada, 1743-1882 Military 375,748

    British and German Deserters, Dischargees, and POW's Who May Have Remained in Canada and the USA, 1774-1783. Part One and Two Military 82

    Canada, British Navy Ship Muster Rolls and Pay Lists, 1757-1836 Military 176,551

    Perhaps others with 'worldwide' membership have access to more
    TD
     
  10. Tullybrone

    Tullybrone Senior Member

    I have used Canadian Voters lists via UK Library edition of Ancestry.

    Also has 1911 & 1921 Canada Censuses & various other Canada related indices.

    Steve Y
     
  11. snailer

    snailer Country Member

    Hello,
    Emmanuel Zammit married Celestina Bottiche in Gibraltar on September 15th 1910,
    found via here https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Gibraltar_Marriages_%28FamilySearch_Historical_Records%29#Record_Content_and_Use there also looks to be numerous Zammit marriages around that time, it may be worth seeing if it's still a popular name there.
    His parents may have emigrated to Canada but then it would be unusual for him to have joined the RAF and not the RCAF if he was a Canadian citizen.


    Rgds

    Pete
     
  12. snailer

    snailer Country Member

    Double post
     
  13. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day della.m.yesterday.05:08pm.re:sergeant john joseph zammit air gunner raf volunteer reserves,may you locate his relatives,and may he rest in peace.regards bernard85 :poppy:
     
  14. RCG

    RCG Senior Member, Deceased

  15. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    So what do we know,

    Parents Emanuel and Celestina Bottiche - probably both Maltese - married in Gibraltar 1910 (therefore JJ probably born 1915 - 1920)

    1901 census (UK) has 16 Zammits, most Maltese born and most of the males are 'Naval' Royal/Merchant

    1911 census (UK) has 6 Zammits, all Maltese born and also 'Naval'

    The watch is from Hamilton, Canada, from Helen - that could be his wife (therefore even if he married in 1937, he would only be 17 - born 1910) but I assume this would mean he was Canadian. However this is contradicted by his being RAFVR as opposed to RCAF. So Helen may be his sister (or another relative) who is Canadian.

    Any ideas how we can move this forward?? - Della it seems more imperative to apply for his service record

    TD
     
  16. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Nothing from this however here is his headstone.

    Thought there may be a clue on his headstone as many Australians killed in the RAF did have (Of Australia) under their name.

    My wifes mother and father were of Maltese/Italian/Greek heritage and my mother in law was Zammit. Their family were all born in Egypt and thus British Citizens. Her father (my wife's) and her uncle were both in the British Army during WW2.

    View attachment 117351


    Geoff
     
  17. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Double Post
     
  18. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    Lancaster III WS@B serial LM430 took off at 1911 from Bardney to attack Frankfurt. On board as 2nd pilot was the Station Commander, Group Captain N C Pleasance. Crashed at Lembeek, Brabant Province, 2 km south of Halle. Crew were: F/O A R Manning, on his 20th trip after arriving 11 October 1943 from 1663 CU (although Loss Card shows 16); J W Hearn (an Associate of the Library Association) as navigator; F/Sgt 1312713 G T M Caines, W/Op, PoW but shown on Loss Card as safe in UK; W F Burkitt, F/Eng; WO2 P Warywoda (RCAF) bomb aimer; J J Zammit mid upper; A Finch rear gunner (and G/C Pleasance of course).

    Caines survived, but no notes of cause of aircraft loss.
    As a side issue, his Service Number appears to have been issued in UK, I believe there was a identification code for enlistments of Canadians in UK and his doesn't seem to show that...
    Others with similar numbers to Zammit are:-
    STEDMAN, RONALD. Rank: Flight Sergeant. Trade: Air Gnr. Service No: 1811928. Date of Death: 21/02/1946.
    Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. 115 Sqdn.
    Grave Reference: Screen Wall. Square 24]. Coll. grave 108031. Cemetery: CITY OF LONDON CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM, MANOR PARK

    COLLENS, REGINALD JOSEPH. Rank: Flight Sergeant. Service No: 1811940. Date of Death: 03/01/1944. Age: 31.
    Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. 156 Sqdn.
    Panel Reference: Panel 216. Memorial: RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
    Additional Information: Son of William Willoughby Augustus and Louisa Collens; husband of Gladys Maud Collens, of Torquay, Devon.

    so on Active Service on Ops at least at beginning of 1944 (which might fit with the crew being Mannings and on strength as of October 1943.

    None of which gets us much further forward, I'm afraid except that Cairns should have completed a PoW debriefing report on release in 1945.
    He was held at Stalag 357 PoW Number 3424. (RAF Commands PoW index). That seems to put him under Stalag Luft 1 number sequence, possibly in south west compound, opened that March. (Footprints on the Sands of Time) but it also shows him as L6/357 so that may be my misreading of camps.
    Stalag 357 was controlled by Dixie Deans.

    It might be worth seeing if a PoW Questionnaire by Caines survives.

    EDIT Found this (on World Naval Ships.com!!)
    Name : G T M Caines: Volunteered and joined the RAF at age 18 and was called up on 4th December 1940. He subsequently joined 9 Squadron and after 7 Operational sorties was granted four days compassionate leave to visit his wife, who had just given birth to a son in a temporary maternity hospital in Taunton. He returned to find his crew reported missing. He carried on flying with 9 Squadron as a spare W/Op but after 13 ops crewed up with F/O Manning who had lost his W/Op after five trips. On 23rd March 1944, on his twenty-fifth trip, in Lancaster LM430, WS-B, on the way home from Frankfurt they were hit in the bomb bay by a fighter. Badly on fire and in a steep dive they blew up. The aircraft broke her back and Caines was thrown clear of the wreckage, landing in a little village called Lembeque (Lembeek) near Brussels. He finished the war in captivity and was repatriated a week or so before VE Day. Unfortunately he was the only one to survive the crash.

    George Thomas Molton (mothers maiden name) Caines died in 2011 in the Bristol area, but there are surviving children who may know more of their fathers memories and may see this...
     
  19. RCG

    RCG Senior Member, Deceased

  20. KevinBattle

    KevinBattle Senior Member

    Emanuel Zammit, aged 58 and Celestine Berini (married daughter or maiden name?) aged 36 took passage from London to Gibraltar on 11 August 1939 on board SS "Ranpura". He showed his employment as an Inspector and Celestine as a clerk, both with address of Royal Hotel, London, W.C.
    He gave his destination as USA and hers as Gibraltar. Ranpura was bound for Yokohama.

    Emmanuel's recorded in the 1911 Census as a 33 year old married officers steward on HMS Hazard a torpedo gunboat in Portsmouth. Place of birth: Valetta, Malta.
     

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