Operation: Ruhr Valley, Germany.

Date: 21st/22nd June 1944 (Wednesday/Thursday)

Unit No: 214 (Federated Malay States) Squadron, 100 Group, Bomber Command

Type: Fortress II

Serial: SR382

Code: BU:B

Baes: RAF Oulton, Norfolk

Location: Bergharen, Holland

Pilot: Plt Off. John Douglas ‘Johnny’ Cassan 172119 RAFVR Age 21. KiA (1)

Flt Eng: Sgt. Sydney Herbert Bryant 1851276 RAFVR Age 20. KiA (2)

Nav: Flt Sgt. George Orr 1551656 RAFVR Age 21. KiA (3)

Special Operator: Flt Sgt. William Milne 1557821 RAF Age 23. PoW No: 472 * (4)

Air Gnr: WO2. Douglas Reid Jennings DFC, R153179 RCAF Age 22. Evader (5)

WOp/Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. Harry Whatton 1384559 RAF Age 22. PoW No: 423 * (4)

Air Gnr: Sgt. Norman William Stanley Abbott 1626469 RAFVR Age 18. KiA (6)

Air Gnr: Flt Sgt. Alex Sharpe 1011102 RAFVR Age 23. KiA

Air Gnr: Sgt. Thomas Sarsfield Sparks 1685161 RAFVR Age 21. PoW No: 414 * (7)

Above: Plt Off. John Douglas Cassan, right: Sgt. Sydney Herbert Bryant

* Stalag Luft 7, Bankau nr. Kreuzburg O.S." (O.S. standing for Oberschlesien, Upper Silesia). Today called Bąków nr. Kluczbork (Poland).

Note: Fortress II SR382 was built as a B-17F #42-30809 at Douglas, Long Beach, USA. On the 6th November 1944, 214 Sqn's replacement BU:B, Fortress III HB788, B-17G Ser #42-102439 was also shot down, killing all of its crew.

This page is dedicated not only to the crew lost that day but to Mr. John Cripps who researched this loss and submitted to Aircrew Remembered. Sadly John passed away on the 8th March 2011 after a short illness. He had carried out tremendous work with the 198 Squadron website. His wife Jan still handles enquiries from the website today! The flight Engineer Sgt. Sydney Bryant was John’s Uncle.

REASON FOR LOSS:

During the early hours of Thursday the 22nd of June 1944 Fortress II SR382 of 214 (FMS) Sqn was shot down over Holland by a German nightfighter while returning from a raid on Germany. Dutch observers at Bergharen reported the aircraft crashing in flames at 01:15 hrs. Some hours earlier at their base at Oulton, Norfolk, the crew had attended a pre-flight briefing on the forthcoming night’s raid on Gelsenkirchen. In the role of bomber support it was a 214 Sqn duty in their specially adapted American built B-17 Fortresses to counter measure the German radar and night fighter radio defence networks in the hope of reducing losses likely to occur to the main attacking bomber force.

Outside of dropping aluminium foil strips known as “Window” and electronic jamming most 214 Sqn crews carried a fluent German speaking radio operator whose primary function was to broadcast false information into German wavelengths and thereby confuse German night fighter pilots. Reports of heated exchanges taking place between genuine German ground controllers and their opposite numbers in 214 Sqn have subsequently become quite legendary.

Gelsenkirchen because of its oil refineries and nearby war industries in the Ruhr Valley was, at the time, one of the most heavily defended places in Germany. Such were the losses suffered by RAF bomber squadrons during previous night attacks on the town that many crews sarcastically referred to the area as “Happy Valley".

At approximately 23:50 hrs on the 21st, the shortest night of the year, SR382 lifted from the runway at RAF Oulton and headed east over the North Sea to Holland, then on to the Ruhr Valley. At some time around 01:00 hrs it came under attack by a Bf110 piloted by Ofhr. Werner Kasmann of 7./NJG1. Although SR382 survived the first attacking pass a second, two minutes later, proved disastrous, knocking out the inboard starboard engine and rendering the aircraft controls useless. Instructing the co-pilot to feather the engines the pilot then ordered the rest of the crew to stand-by for an emergency jump, but in the next moment the aircraft was diving out of control for the ground.

This was the first and last Abschuss for Werner Kasman. He was KiA the following month during the night of the 28th/29th July 1944, when his Bf110 G-4 G9+CR, crashed into the North Sea north of Nordeney, Germany at 02:00 hrs. (Nachtjagd Combat Archive (24 July 1944 - 15 October 1944) Part 4 - Theo Boiten).

Somehow by piloting skill, or just plain luck, the pilot managed to pull the aircraft's nose up for just long enough so that the crew could bale out, while five managed to do so the pilot, co-pilot, navigator and an air gunner did not. Some years later one of the survivors reportedly said that when he baled out “The pilot and co-pilot were struggling with the aircraft's controls hoping to make a forced landing.” It has never been clarified why, the assumption is that one or more of the crew were badly wounded in the attack and that their only chance of survival was to attempt a crash landing.

Whatever the intentions of the pilot and co-pilot some moments later the aircraft, in flames, crashed into the ground where it quickly burnt out, by the time German soldiers arrived, some minutes later, four crew lay dead in the wreckage and another lay hidden beneath it.

The aircraft crashed on fire at 00:15 hrs near the Bergharen, about ten (10) miles west of Nijmegen.

Two days later on the 24th four of the crew were buried at what was then known as the “English Graveyard”, in Uden, Holland, (now Uden War Cemetery) attended by a military Guard of Honour made up of Luftwaffe personnel. Only on the 28th when the wreckage of BU-B was being removed was the body of a fifth member of crew found under the remains of the fuselage with an open parachute attached. For reasons unknown he was not taken to Uden to be buried along side his fallen comrades but instead was buried in the local civilian cemetery at Bergharen where his body remained until the late 1940’s at which time he was exhumed and re-interred at Jonkerbos War Cemetery.

(1) Plt Off. John Douglas Cassan had been posted to 214 Sqn in October 1943 at a time when the squadron was flying the Short Stirling I and III. His abilities as the pilot of Fortress II SR382 inspired confidence in all of its crew. Highly regarded by them for his leadership and humanitarian qualities it is sad to note that the day before his death was his 21st birthday.

From a survivors recently discovered letter in 2003 which was written in June 1945, which covers some aspects of SR382 last flight it would appear typical of John to stay to the end at the controls of his aircraft if he thought it could mean saving others. In view of this letter it now seems more or less certain, though it cost John his life, that this was the case during SR382 final moments.

Above: Renee, John Cassen's fiancée. The first was taken about 1944, the second about 2006. They were going to announce their engagement when John returned from the sortie of 21st/22nd June 1944. Of course sadly this didn't happen. After the war she moved to Canada

(2) Sgt. Sydney Herbert Bryant qualified as a Flight Engineer in October 1943 and teamed with John Cassan. Became co-pilot when the squadron was re-equipped with American built B17 Flying Fortresses in late January 1944. During the first 6 months of that year John was instructing him to pilot the B-17 in the event he was needed.

Sgt. Bryant's Log Book (shown above) is thought to be the only one from SR382 still in existence. Originally considered to have been lost, or destroyed, it was sent to Sgt. Bryant's parents by the RAF during 1949 along with some belatedly awarded medals. (See below)

A few years after the war medals like these began arriving as official acknowledgement of wartime service. For most they were the only awards to be received, whether as relatives of a loved one killed, or as a survivor. It is hard to imagine, some sixty years on, the horrors which WW2 aircrew and their families must have gone through just to receive them. Medals shown above are: Aircrew Europe Star, War Medal, 1939 - 1945 Star, and France and Germany Bar

Although containing mostly one line entries it does however give an insight into 214 Sqn's operations between October 1943 and late June 1944. Passed down over the years through Sgt. Bryant's family the original now rests in the Document Archives of the Imperial War Museum, where it has been since 1995.

Born exactly two weeks after Sgt Bryant's death his nephew, as already arranged, was christened John after Plt Off. John Cassan during September 1944.

Note: The Imperial War Museum is very well respected and a fitting place for any original documents. Aircrew Remembered recommends that relatives never part with any original documents to third parties without obtaining advice first. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. We are contacted on an almost weekly basis asking how they are able to get these back. If you decide to release or send anything - have them copied first. We are able to assist you with advice on this.

(3) Despite extensive enquiries little else is known except that Flt Sgt. Orr may have been badly wounded in the attack on SR382 which led the pilot to attempt a crash landing.

(4) Flt Sgt. Milne and Flt Sgt. Whatton baled out and landed near Ravenstein in Holland. They evaded capture with the aid of the underground. However they were all betrayed and captured in Antwerp on the 8th July 1944.

Note: There was some speculation because of the misidentification of Flt Sgt. Whatton as a Fg Off. in the that he was not in fact a serving member of the RAF but a communications technician and that his officer rank was a cover. There is no evidence that this was the case, in fact his PoW questionnaire confirms that he was a Flt Sgt. and not a Fg Off.

After the statuary visit to Dulag Luft, Oberursel they were transferred to Stalag Luft 7, Bankau arriving there on the 27th July 1944.

On the 19th January 1945, they joined the 1,500 prisoners that were marched out of camp in the bitter cold. They crossed a bridge over the river Oder on 21st January, reached Goldberg on 5th February, and were loaded onto a train. On the 8th February they reached Stalag 3A located about 52 km (32 mi) south of Berlin near Luckenwalde, which already held 20,000 prisoners, consisting mainly of soldiers from Britain, Canada, the United States and Russia.

In February 1945 prisoners from Stalag 3B Furstenberg were evacuated to Stalag 3A, adding to the already overcrowded and unhygienic conditions. Finally, as the Russians approached the guards fled the camp leaving the prisoners to be liberated by the Red Army on the 22nd April 1945.

Flt Sgt. Milne and Flt Sgt. Whatton were interviewed on the 23rd and 22nd May 1945 respectively.

William Milne was born on the 13th February 1921 in Glasgow and was employed as a General Clerk prior to enlisting in the RAFVR on the 29th August 1941.

Harry Whatton was born on the 19th September 1921 in Tottenham, London and was employed as a Railway Fireman prior to enlisting in then RAFVR on the 7th February 1941.

(5) WO2. Jennings was injured, from splinters in a leg, either aboard the aircraft or upon landing. He was admitted to a Dutch hospital from where he escaped disguised as a Policeman. No further information has been found.

WO2. Jennings was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) whilst with 214 Sqn on the 17th November 1944.

Citation: “In air operations Warrant Officer Jennings has displayed courage, endurance and devotion to duty of the highest order”.

WO2. Douglas Jennings pictured above in 1989 with a former Dutch resistance worker,

The follow narrative is a translation of what appears to be a Dutch transcription of an interview of Douglas R. Jennings who, with his wife, was visiting those from the resistance who assisted him in 1944:

“This is an account of the B-17G Aircraft of #214 Royal Air Force Squadron on target Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on the night of June 22, 1944 and, the consequent place of the fighting Dutch and Belgian Resistance forces in the repatriation of one member of the aircrew to allied lines.

Our work was radio counter measures using Jostle that jammed audio Fighter control but, the crew knew nothing of what was going on. We flew high at 26,000 feet and, there was 10/10 cloud with fires below them making us an easy target. Our pilot, John Cassan, had just received his Commission and, we had just been mustered onto this aircraft from the Stirlings we flew before on seven OPS.

The trouble started when gunners changed positions from port to starboard and vice versa. That night I was a gunner but, the regular gunner was reverse of his former position. When the almost inevitable attack came from a night fighter, Ned Sparks froze in the command to corkscrew to the pilot. In that instant, the fighter shot away our starboard aileron and, two engines were hit with the starboard wing ablaze with an eerie blue flame.

The account may be taken up by Peter Truren, a Dutch air war historian of PROF. STRUYCKENSTRAAT 12, 5463 VEGHEL, The plane crashed on fire at 0:15 hours near the place Bergharen, about ten miles west of Nijmegen. Of nine crew, only four managed to bale out. The writer landed on Niftrik Island in the Maas River. The capture by Dutch police came the next morning and, none too soon as Flak in my leg was making a mess of it.

Truren recounts how German Air Force personnel from Vokel Base buried the dead. Casson, Pilot; Orr, Navigator; Abbot, mid-upper Gunner; Sharpe, Tail Gunner, are at Uden where they lie today. Engineer, Bryant, is bured at Nijemgen as he was found, deep in the ground, only later. Mr Peter Schrier, private war historian, took us to visit both burial sites.

Our job took us right over the Vokel Base as we had to be close to jam his fighter control. Later crew members got wise to the fact that our big transmitter could be homed in on by the Luftwaffe so that, later, interrupted jamming took place; but, it was still suicide in order to save other planes to get through to the target. This was war! I need not add more detail as similar and, much sophisticated devices are used today by our air forces.

As the fighter passed us on Starboard, he got off the barrel of my fifty Caliber and, the writer got off a hasty burst with no observed hits. Later, I heard from a Dutch historian, Peter Schrier of Rosmalen, that a German fighter had come down that night.

Without having had a briefing to do so on baling out to avoid the bomber stream passing below in order to fall through the danger area and, also to get into a better breathing conditions sooner, I delayed opening my chute. After disposing of the chute by hiding it in water and grass, I plodded along trying to get out of the drop area to avoid capture. By dawn, the leg hit by a slinter of 20 mm cannon shell, was swelling fast and, forced me to literally give myself up to anyone where medical aid might be found. The farmer, whose house was near a Bridge Guard post, called the Dutch Police who took me to the hospital at S’Hertogenbosche. I was ‘out of it’ there for two days. Later I was transferred to a holding hospital for German soldiers at Coudewater and kept in a room with five others. The writer escaped over the wall 3:00 AM on July 20th, 1944. From there the account is of deeds of Dutch and Belgian Underground people who were totally in charge of this “parcel” or “puppy” as the code name was used.

The events of that night of escape are still clear in the writer’s mind, especially the itchy feeling at the nape of my neck, where I felt the bullet of the pursuing Germans would enter. An event like that wonderfully refreshes the mind! From there onwards, things are garbled at best and. Non-existent at worst.

The first modern-day resistance worker who, by his persistent letters over eight years, brought this veteran, the writer, out of his ability to speak to Peter Schrier, retired Chemist, of Rosmalen, Brabant, where I was destined to spend the first day of my escape in 1944 hiding in a field of rye. Peter’s father, now deceased, waws Peter believes, a major player in the underground, always incognito but, a Leftenant Colonel of the Royal Dutch Army. Peter told me that one day quisling Dutch Nazis came to his father’s home and told his Father that they knew who he was and what he was up to and, stated that his time would come soon. Upon hearing this, Schrier Senior stood to his full height and addressed them in the crisp German of a military officer warning them that they might not at all know to whom they were speaking and, that it would be better for them if they left off any further enquiry. They were led to believe that they were talking to the Gestapo and “left the matter alone”. It is to Peter Schrier, Gerrard Sonneman who is the Secretary of the Resistance Organisation today, Peter Truen and, Gerrad Claeijs as well as others, pursuing events of the air war 1939-1945 that we owe unearthing of this story and, many other stories that make up the history as it can be found. This is one such story.

I had opened a second-floor window after taking down the blackout, tied the sheets together to make a rope and, let myself out onto a glass solarium roof. All this, while the guard at a table in room was dozing. By spreading my weight and slithering on my belly, I reached the end of the room that was just beside and above the wall. From there, a blind jump into the darkness took me to the roadway outside the prison hospital. All this because of the endless escape courses that I and my crew had been given. The duty of an airman is always to harass and tie-up as many of the enemy as possible if you are a prisoner. You can still fight for to escape is the standing order of the day.

I took a look up, found Arcturus, the North Star, off the end of the lip of the Big Dipper and, set out toward Germany. It was at best a loping limp that carried me at first light of dawn to a town on the other side of a railway track—Rosmalen. This was a good place to hide where pursuers would omit to look. What I did not realize was that it was the place where friends of the underground were most likely to find me and, find me they did. Pursuit also was there!. All day long a sound truck, complete with German military march music, gave out announcements to (what were left of them) – the loyal Dutch, of pan Germanic/pan European, new world order, that there was an armed, dangerous, fugitive at large and, would they tell the authorities at once if anyone found the “varment”. Toward evening, I crawled out of the field of high rye to a nearby “friend” who had watched over me all day. He was a handsomely attired scarecrow. On removing his coat in the half-light, just to keep me warm in the night ahead, the writer was almost scared to death to hear a clear-ringing voice shout, “put that back”. I tried to distance myself from the dropping place of the coat and, hiding again in the hedge adjoining the field. I could not go far as my legs were seized up after the run of the early morning from the hospital – still in my johnny shirt and barefoot. You have no idea, dear reader, how hard it is for a soldier to tell his story and, his crew’s story when many of them are dead and, why are you alive? – especially, a soldier who always feels that he has not done his duty to his buddies fully. As it was, the Fortress must have blown up in flames before the forward members could get out as my landing place and the crash were only 18 miles apart.

The message in English told me that those watching with binoculars from the high Dutch house across the tracks knew who I was and wanted me to know they knew and, wanted me to know too that they were friends.

To make a long story short, later groups of strollers came along the pathway that ran between my field and the railway tracks. I, too, was on the path going to a house in which I thought friends might be found. On hearing their approach, I rolled down sideways down the embankment into an irrigation ditch. One man said, “Do not be afraid. Do not shoot. We are friends”. Those “friends” have never been able to be identified. They made me run, painful as it was, in the dark to another place. Later, a black-market butcher, Hubert Van Zoggel, now deceased, took me to his own place. There were many “hiding places” between there and the village of Bakel where I stayed for two weeks at the home of Bernard Mientje Manders with other evaders. Bernard was not seen as he was “under Doiken” (in hiding) from being shipped to Germany as a labourer or, to a concentration camp. Mientje (little one, little Wilenmena in Dutch), was the daughter of the postmaster and her “cover” was to serve the quartered Germans well, daily delivering their mail and, also delivering telephone message. Her story and that of Bernard could well be the subject of a book. Here at Bakel, false identity was made from stolen identity blank cards and, stolen or duplicated rubber stamps and, clandestine photographs. Sometime Mientje had as many as 20 American air crew in her home.

As the fighting had come close to the Belgian border and, as the Belgian border guards on horseback had routed us in one attempt to cross through on out bicycles. Other preparations had to be made.

Later in my two-month sojourn, I was taken disguised as an arrested mute felon, in handcuffs, sitting in the side car of a lovely BMW direct drive motor cycle. We went from Bakel to Deurne. The driver’s name, now unknown to me, was a legitimate Dutch National Police Officer. The disguises were always elaborate with back-up stories. It is surprising that the German never started wondering about deaf mutes they encountered so often.

Mientje foraged at 4:00 AM, before the end of curfew, on her bike at times, to get food to feed her “brood”. Often the cupboard must have been bare indeed. Farmers gave her food never pretending other than that she was going to use it for her own little family. Maybe they had an idea how big that family was, maybe not! But, there was always food for starved evaders who crossed her doorstep. Mientje was 27 at the time, just a newly wed, which was how they enticed the German authorities to give up the house they occupied for this new family. This little family had been purposely “created” as a cover, for two undercover resistance operators who were that before they were married.

At one point I was in the woods with the family of a forest ranger. He was shot by the Germans when he was discovered driving a German Staff car loaded with dynamite to blow up bridges. This was to impeded the progress of the soon-to-be- retreating German Army. I was not shot but lived and, having a far lesser role than his in the great freedom war.

Then next memory that can be identified was, I recall, as a guest of Burgo Master of Bergan Op Zoom at a tea party. The shadow of the end of the Nazi occupation was, already, withdrawing.

In March of this year, again my wife and I visited the Netherlands, spending two weeks as guests of Meintje Manders at the local Inn in Bakel. During that time, we also visited Mr & Mrs Peter Schrier in Rosmalen. Gerrard and Mrs. Sonnemans took us to Oostberg to visit Gerrard Claeijs, who had long been claiming to have been a helper but, whose identity I did not put together. The rest of the account here is of Gerrard Claeijs laboriously put-together records of the battles in which he served as a young man of twenty-two shortly before and after Oostburg’s fall to the Allies in September 1944. The wheels of the modern resistance went into action and, it was set up that there should be a visit to Gerrand Claeijs with the Sonnemans while, friends of that past “puppy” carrying event gathered for an all-day session at the home of Gerrand Claeijs. Present were:

Mr & Mrs Sonnemans (Gerrand and Nellie);
Mr and Mrs Gerrard Claeijs;
Miss Elvia Wile, Intelligence Officer;
Rudolf Fassaert;
Mrs Albert Steijaert and daughter Christine;
Stanley Van Nispen, an officer of the 1940 Dutch Army;
The writer and his wife.

All these except Christine, the Sonnemans and the writer’s wife, had a part in recalling those days of 1944, while Gerrand Sonnemans acted as interpreter.

The work that is hereafter put down would not have, in any way, been possible without the dogged determined research of Gerrard Claeijs, who has a helper in a daughter to translate and type in English. Mr Sonnemans brought it all together so that we met. The touchstone that made it all happen was my address of 1944 in a booklet at Meintje’s, hidden in the garden, that a the clue to which investigators could work at to get their histories together.

The following is the result of the 1991 Eeklo meeting of all the above named at the Claijs home in Oostburg. The story takes up with two men and a woman Elvira Wille, travelling on the train. One man with me, Elvira across the aisle and, another man in an other car as a ‘lookout”. We came to Rosendael to Kriunigenn, the end of the rail line. Then we travelled by bus to the ferry that would take us to a point across from Perkpolder where I stayed at the dock until the German guards left their posts. Then, Rudolf Fassaert came on board and we went off together. The other two were waiting with four bicycles; one for me, and one each for two ahead and one behind. The signal system would be to warn those behind of danger ahead and, the follow up would see that the airman, they were escorting, did not get lost! We went to Kloosterzande on the bikes and, I stayed with the family de Maart Fassaert for five days. As it was remembered by the group at the table, I remembered the veranda near the town street that I sat on years before. The journey had begun at Duerne August 15th to 20th.

Then we started again from Kloosterzande to Terneusen via Boscapella, a distance of 25 km. We stayed there with the family of J. Borgsteijn for three days on a farm. I was told that we washed dishes together and sang which is one of my habits. We then went from Terneuzen to Biervliet. Rogiers, where Gerrard Claiejs father, Augustine, had a farm which was very close to the Belgian border.

Now there were only two guides as one of the Belgian Maachi had returned home. At Biervliet, Elvire comes into the picture to take the “Puppy” to Belgium. We stay one night at the farm and, the next day Gerrard Claeijs tries to get me across the boarder near the farm. However, there is trouble there as a Dutchman does his duty, only for the wrong side; Claeijs says, “If you have us arrested with ten men, there will be one hundred others to come after you.” We turn back and the matter is closed! Gerrard Claeijs takes me instead to Dr. Brauverat Izemdyke. We stayed there for a few hours and, afterwards Elvira Wille came to the doctor and she and Elvira took me by car to two music teachers, man and wife, Mr and Mrs Cornelis Schijne, where I stayed on night in a bed on Odstraat in Oostburg.

On September 1st, Gerrard Claeijs took me by bicycle, disguised ad a farm labourer to a farm house at Turpejn Peperstraat 89, 990 Eeklo. We had to leave after two hours because German troops came to quarter there. Mrs. Albert Steijaert then took me to Van Kerks but, this man was afraid for he had a son in a concentration camp. She then took me to another place where there was an electric grinding mill. I was kept there for three nights until the Germans started to set up a Flak battery. We then went to Grosservt Van Kerkhoven where they sold black market meat products. Mr. Steyart came and took me home to 25 Kaistraat where he lived with two kids and his brother Raoul. I was there ten days when the Canadian artillery were shelling over beyond the town. I was sitting in the front room with a pretty girl who thought I was all right too. At this point two German officers came to front door to say good bye to Steyart, their fine Belgian Policeman friend. Of course there was a fuss. The house was all decorated with Allied flags to welcome the British and Canadians. I went out the back door and they hid my shoes which I had left on the floor.

That is about the end of the story, except for a trip on a lorry in which I was escorted, with sten gun, by the staff of the Hospital at Brughes to a PoW camp near Ameins, France.

From there, I hitched a ride across the channel in a DC3 and, home to Canada after a brief visit to MI9 and the Squadron”.

(6) Sgt. Abbott could be said to have nearly survived the crash of SR382 however, enquiries made in 1946 at Bergharen told a tragic story. It would seem that he left it a little late bailing out for although his parachute deployed the aircraft crashed down upon him. His body, buried under the wreckage, was not discovered for several days and for reasons unknown was not taken to Uden to be buried with his fallen comrades. Instead on the 1st of July he was buried in the local civilian cemetery at Bergharen only to be later exhumed during the late 1940’s and re-interred in the war cemetery at Jonkerbos some miles away.

(7) Sgt. Sparks baled out and he evaded capture together with Flt Sgt. Milne and Flt Sgt. Whatton with the aid of the underground. However they were all betrayed and captured in Antwerp on the 8th July 1944.

In the absence of his PoW questionnaire it is believed that his journey to Dulag Luft, Stalag Luft 7 and Stalag 3A is the same at that described in Ser 4 above for Flt Sgt. Milne and Flt Sgt. Whatton.

On repatriation in 1945 he continued his RAF career and was promoted to Flt Sgt. He was later reported as saying that pilot, John Cassan and flight engineer, Syd Bryant were wrestling with the controls of the aircraft attempting to make a forced landing at the time he baled out, giving rise to the theory that there may have been badly wounded on board.

Thomas Sarsfield Sparks was born on the 21st August 1922 in West Derby. He died on the 1st May 1987 in Runcorn, Cheshire

Burial Details:

Above photograph of the grave markers of SR382 crew taken at Uden, Holland, during 1945/46 is the earliest one known to exist.

The two middle grave markers carry the inscription "Unknown Airman" but were subsequently identified as being Plt Off. John Cassan, and Flt Sgt. George Orr. As travel in Holland immediately after the war was difficult and restricted it is not certain how this photograph came to be taken. The assumption is that Sgt Bryant's brother-in-law, who was serving with the Royal Engineers in Holland at the time, somehow managed to travel to Uden and take it. The remains of Plt Off. Cassan and Flt Sgt. Orr were positively identified during the summer of 1946.

Aftermath and echoes: After the crew were posted as "missing from operations", on the 22nd of June, for nearly six months the relatives and loved ones of SR382 hoped at the very worst all had been taken prisoner of war. It was not until just before Christmas, December 18th, 1944, that letters from the Red Cross began arriving, containing for some, the saddest of news.

Plt Off. John Douglas Cassan. Uden War Cemetery 5.B.5. Grave Inscription: ‘"HE IS NOT HERE: FOR HE IS RISEN" ST.MATT. XXVIII.6’. Born on the 21st June 1923 in Clevedon, Somerset. Son of Arthur William Marshall and Ida Francis (née Douglas) Cassan of Clevedon, Somerset, England.

John was originally buried as “Unknown Airman”. He is remembered on the war memorial inside St Andrew’s Church, Clevedon, and Clevedon’s Civic Website.

Sgt. Bryant left, with his sister Dorothy (John's mother) and brother Arthur of 198 Squadron RAF.

Sgt. Sydney Herbert Bryant. Uden War Cemetery 5.B.3. Grave Inscription: ‘"THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD, AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD" WE SHALL REMEMBER YOU’. Born in Rowledge near Farnham, Surrey. Son of Arthur William and Elsie May (née Cole) Bryant. Rowledge, Nr. Farnham, Surrey, England.

Sydney is remembered on the war memorial at Gostrey Meadows, Farnham, and also his parents grave.

Above: John Cripps visiting his Uncle's grave and right the parents of Flt Sgt. Orr. Photograph shown above shows Flt Sgt George Orr's parents and was taken at Uden War Cemetery, Holland, during September 1948. It perhaps conveys, that even four years after the event, what the relatives of those killed aboard SR382 were still going through.

Above: family grave of the Orr family in Craigton Cemetery, Glasgow, Scotland

Flt Sgt. George Orr. Uden War Cemetery 5.B.3. Grave Inscription: ‘DEARLY BELOVED YOUNGEST SON OF DONALD & JEAN ORR, 195 EARL ST. GLASGOW.W.4, SCOTLAND’. Son of Donald Campbell and Jean McLeod Ralph Orr. Glasgow, Scotland.

Flt Sgt. Orr was originally buried as “Unknown Airman”.

Sgt. Norman William Stanley Abbott. Jonkerbos War Cemetery 17.G.5. Born in the 15th July 1925 in Brentford, Middlesex. Son of Stanley Harrold Abbott (deceased in Feb 1938) and Gertrude Janet (née Craft) Abbott of Middlesex, England.

Flt Sgt. Alex Sharpe. Uden War Cemetery 5.B.6. Grave Inscription: ‘DEAR ALEX. BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES CHERISHED FOR EVER. LOVING MOTHER AND FATHER’. Son of Thomas and Margaret Sharpe of Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland

Note: Thanks to the Special Units briefly employed to identify lost aircrews the graves marked as 'Unknown Airman'. These units were later disbanded due to 'cost savings'. The British government at the time, then decided to create the Runnymede Memorial to missing aircrew! Wonderful? Yes, but not the same as a grave that relatives could visit! Which perhaps more could have, if these units were kept operational. Protests were made at the time, but public opinion (according to the authorities) swayed the move to disband. The Missing research and recovery units also wanted to continue with their very difficult work which had achieved so many identifications and locations.

Addendum: Eight years after Sgt Bryant's death in SR382 his father was taken ill on its anniversary during June 1952, and died a few days later. Twenty five years on, in June 1977, Sgt Bryant's mother became ill during the thirty third anniversary and died the following day. Richard Cassan - pilot's brother, spoke to John Cripps around 8 years ago and told him that at the time the aircraft crashed his mother actually was woken from her sleep by her son's voice saying: "Don't worry about me Mum, I'll be alright".

Newspaper report of Ghostly goings-on at the home of Sgt Bryant, years later. Click to read.

Researched by Mr John Cripps and dedicated to his Uncle and all the crew. Many thanks go to the following for their help and, or, supplying information: Mr J. Whitehouse of 214 (FMS) Squadron Association. Mr A. Verbakel of Stichting "Oorlogskerkhof Uden", Holland. Mr F. Aldworth of Airforce Magazine, Canada. The Royal British Legion, Clevedon Branch, Somerset. The Cassan family, formerly of Clevedon, Somerset. The Bryant family, formerly of Farnham, Surrey.

The Imperial War Museum, Document Archives, London. We are very grateful for the continued valuable research by Michael Harrison for further information supplied on the crew details. Thanks to Gerald Tebes for point out the misidentification of the Wedding photograph for WO Sparks. (Apr 2023). Other updates by Aircrew Remembered (Apr 2023). Reviewed, updated with new PoW information and reorganised by Aircrew Remembered (Jan 2024). Thanks to Andrew Jennings for the Douglas R. Jennings interview (May 2026).

Other sources listed below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2026 Last Modified: 29 May 2026, 05:54