Wood, Julian Vernon Orison

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) Julian Vernon Orison
Surname Wood
Gender M
Age 22
Decorations
Date of Death 13-05-1943
Next of Kin Son of Douglas Vernon Wood and Hilga Violet Wood (née Gwat), of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Husband of Elizabeth (Betty) Neil Wood (née Sneddon), whom he married in January 1943 at Oakham, Rutland.
WOOD JVO

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number W4269
Markings QR-G

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Netherlands
Burial/Memorial Place Amsterdam New Eastern Cemetery
Grave Reference Plot 69. Row C. Coll. grave 10.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 1
Panel Number 118

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/22547
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 5
Squadron 61
Trade Air Bomber
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

Julian was born at Vancouver, British Columbia on 14 January 1921. His father was born at Vernon, British Colombia and worked as an electrical engineer and a farmer, and his mother born at Bon Accord, Edmonton, Alberta. Little more seems known about his family but he did have a married sister, Yvonne McDonald. The schools he attended were MacLean Public School 1927-1934, John Oliver High 1934-1938 and Salmon Arm High 1939-1943. Between 1938-1939 he is shown as being in the Department of Education, British Columbia. His sport interests were basketball and track events. He spent five years in the Scouts and was a Scout leader and a King’s Scout. Julian took on seasonal work during 1939 where he was a syrup maker for Dominion Canners and then worked there as a labourer between 1940-1941.
He enlisted on 29 August 1941 and after training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from Canada on 7 August 1942 and after arriving at 3PRC on 19 August he went to 3(0) AFU 26 August 1942, 14 OTU on 22 September 1942, 1660 CU. 9 February 1943, 617 Sqn 31 March 1943 and 61 Squadron on 11 April 1943. Sadly Julian lost his life from 61 Squadron shortly afterwards on 13 May 1943.
Betty was serving with the WRAF. She moved to Canada to live with Julian's parents after the war.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Click here to view

The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/578/10
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/578/9

Fellow Servicemen

Alderton P H (F/S)
Lupton S (Sgt)
Reid W J (W/O)
Sloan R E (Sgt)
Thomas J (Sgt)
Whitehall C D (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 12-05-1943
End Date 13-05-1943
Takeoff Station Syerston
Day/Night Raid Night (56% moon)
Operation Duisburg
Reason for Loss Hit by flak and crashed onto the Zuiderzeepark highway in Amsterdam

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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.