FOX SW
Fox, Sydney William Died
Personal Information
| Rank | Sgt |
| Forename(s) | Sydney William |
| Surname | Fox |
| Gender | M |
| Age | 29 |
| Date of Death | 03-06-1944 |
| Next of Kin | Son of Minnie May Fox of Sandy, Bedfordshire. Husband of Elsie Winifred Fox (née Goodwin), they married on 19th March 1938 at St Swithun's Church, Sandy. They made their home at 53 Highbury Grove, Clapham, Bedfordshire |
Aircraft Information
| Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax III |
| Serial Number | LK841 |
| Markings | NP-X X for X-Ray |
Memorial Information
| Burial/Memorial Country | France |
| Burial/Memorial Place | Evreux Communal Cemetery |
| Grave Reference | Row B. Coll. grave 24-26. |
IBCC Memorial Information
| Phase | 2 |
| Panel Number | 166 |
Enlistment Information
| Service Number | 959865 |
| Service | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve |
| Group | 4 |
| Squadron | 158 |
| Squadron Motto | Strength in unity |
| Trade | Air Gunner |
| Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
Other Memorials
| Location | St. James of Compostola Church, Lissett, East Yorkshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Memorial Type | Memorial Stone & Inscribed Metal Plaque |
| Memorial Text | Memorial to 158 Sqn, RAF Lissett 28th February 1943 - 17th August 1946 |
| Location | St. James of Compostola Church, Lissett, East Yorkshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Memorial Type | Stained Glass Window & Inscribed Metal Plaques |
| Memorial Text | A stained glass window in memory of 158 Sqn RAF |
| Location | Adjacent to former airfield, Lissett, East Yorkshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Memorial Type | Metal Sculpture, Wind Turbines & Info Board |
| Memorial Text | 12 wind turbines named after Halifax Bombers of 158 Sqn and groundcrew who were killed on 2nd July 1943 |
| Location | Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, North Yorkshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Memorial Type | Memorial Gardens, Propeller, Inscribed Marble Tablets |
| Memorial Text | In everlasting homage to the courage of those who have found their winged victory through the skies of Yorkshire |
| Location | Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, North Yorkshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Memorial Type | Propeller Unit & Inscribed Marble Tablets |
| Memorial Text | They made the supreme sacrifice so that you & I may go in peace with freedom. 4 Group 1939 - 1945. |
| Location | Heslington Hall, York, North Yorkshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Memorial Type | Inscribed Metal Plaque |
| Memorial Text | Heslington Hall 1941 - 1945, 4 Gp Headquarters Bomber Command. In remembrance of those Air & Ground personnel who made the supreme sacrifice that we all may walk in peace with freedom |
Miscellaneous Information
| 158 Squadron Lost six Halifaxes on this raid |
| Born 29 March 1915 in Sandy, Bedfordshire, Sydney was a Printer before enlisting, originally with Messrs. Mead and Son of Sandy and later for the Bedford Evening News. |
| Also on board was 528758 Sgt. Ralph Wilson Gilbert, who successfully evaded capture and penned the following well known poem: "My brief sweet life is over, My eyes no longer see. No Christmas trees, No summer walks, No pretty girls for me. I've got the chop, I've had it- My nightly Op's are done. Yet in another 100 years I'll still be twenty one". |
| The full poem reads as follows: Requiem for a Rear Gunner I feel relieved and happy, the moon is on our beam, Then suddenly the fighters are in among the stream, Combats break out on every side, the criss-cross bullets fly, I see four stricken bombers fall blazing from the sky. As cannon shells come leaping, I watch the battle grow, A Halifax to starboard attacks a one-one-o. I see another aircraft about to meet its fate, A fighter closes in on him – a JU 88. This is no even contest, no warring of the Gods, Our bullets can’t match cannon shells, we know the desperate odds, I nurse my four sleek Brownings, with their belts of 303, And hold on to the 88, that’s quietly shadowing me. With twice our speed and half our size, we’re lucky to survive, The only thing that we can do is weave and twist and dive, He takes a chancy pot-shot, his shells fall short astern, He’s a little bit too eager to see our aircraft burn. I tell the skip to corkscrew, before we get the chop, And as we’re diving steeply, I watch the fighter drop. He very nearly vanishes into the hazy air, And then with startling suddenness, he fires a fighter flare. Suspended on a parachute, it hangs above our tail, Glowing with brilliant radiance, it makes the moon seem pale, Crouched in my rear turret, well how am I to know, That the cunning Hun is waiting a hundred feet below. We have no under turret, no one can see below, He sits there as we corkscrew, following as we go, An upward firing cannon, close by the pilot’s cheek, Is beaded on my turret, its code name SCHRAGE MUSIK. Where ignorance is bliss they say, ’tis folly to be wise, Though soon I’ll face the MUSIC in those unfriendly skies. We have the flare behind us, suspended there on high, I watch it fading slowly from the corner of my eye. Once more the void is empty, all peaceful and unreal, I call through on the intercom “Regain an even keel, You can straighten up now skipper, we’ve lost him I believe, But don’t fly straight and level, maintain a gentle weave”. No sign of JU 88 – No ME one-one-o’s, Quite soon we’ll be at the coast where the English Channel flows, I sigh and breath in deeply, with ill disguised relief, When streams of white hot tracer come hosing from beneath. My world dissolves around me, I take a fearful blow, My legs are ripped and shattered from the holocaust below, My Browning guns have vanished, my chest is torn and red, My perspex dome disintegrates – I AM ALREADY DEAD. EPITAPH My brief sweet life is over, my eyes no longer see, No summer walks – no Christmas Trees – no pretty girls for me, I’ve got the chop, I’ve had it, my nightly ops are done, Yet, in another hundred years, I’ll still be twenty-one. By Ralph Wilson Gilbert for Sid Fox. We have not forgotten them. |
| Sydney was a bellringer at St. Swithun, Sandy. On 7th December 1935 he was involved in a very alarming bellringing accident, while ringing the treble in the ground floor ringing room at Old Warden, Bedfordshire, the tenor clapper came out of the bell and fell through two open trapdoors, crashed through two ladders, before crashing on to a third trapdoor and smashing its way to the bottom of the tower, while all the other ringers managed to get out of the way the clapper struck Sydney on the side of the head from which he sustained a "nasty wound". After medical treatment he was taken home. Sydney is remembered in the Church Bellringers Memorial Book 1939 – 1945 at St Paul’s Cathedral, London. |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Last Operation Information
| Start Date | 02-06-1944 |
| End Date | 03-06-1944 |
| Takeoff Station | Lissett |
| Day/Night Raid | Night (85% moon) |
| Operation | Trappes- to bomb the railway yards. 128 aircraft, 16 losses (12.5%). Most of the bombing fell in the eastern portion of the target area |
| Reason for Aircraft Loss | Crashed at St Colombe-la-Commanderie, France. Four of the surviving crew members successfully evaded capture and two became PoW |