House, Brooks Earl
Personal Information
Rank | P/O |
Forename(s) | Brooks Earl |
Surname | House |
Gender | M |
Age | 20 |
Decorations | |
Date of Death | 29-01-1945 |
Next of Kin | Son of Brooks Earl House and Maria Rosina House (née Cartmell) of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Husband of Jean Glenis House (née Bates), whom he married on 10 April 1944 at Hamilton. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax VII |
Serial Number | NP743 |
Markings | EQ-K |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | Germany |
Burial/Memorial Place | Durnbach War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | 4. C. 16. |
Epitaph |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 184 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | J/95275 |
Service | Royal Canadian Air Force |
Group | 6 |
Squadron | 408 (Goose) |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of Origin | Canada |
Other Memorials
Location | Village Centre, Linton on Ouse, North Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Stone Memorial and inscribed slate tablet |
Memorial Text | In memory of 408 (Goose) and 426 (Thunderbird) Squadrons of R.C.A.F |
Miscellaneous Information
A scratch crew with widely varying experience- from no sorties up to 27 |
Brooks was born at Hamilton Township, Waterdown, Ontario on 27 March 1924. His father worked as a machinist and was born at Hamilton and his mother was born in England at Southampton. His parents lived at Waterdown. He had no siblings. He went to Earl Kitchener Public School at Hamilton between 1930-1939 and then to Westdale High School 1939-1941. His sport interests were hockey and badminton. Brooks worked as a clerk at Canadian Westinghouse in Hamilton between 1941-1942 and then as a chemist (laboratory helper) at Dominion Foundries, Hamilton, 1942-1943. |
He enlisted on 25 March 1943 and after training was posted to the U.K. He embarked from Hamilton on 29 April 1944 and arrived at 3PRC on 8 May 1944. He then continued to 82 OTU on 6 June 1944, 86 OTU on 21 June, 61 Base 14 August 1944, 1657 CU 25 August 1944 and 408 Squadron on 4 October 1944. It was from there that Brooks was to lose his life on 29 January 1945. |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Fellow Servicemen
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 28-01-1945 |
End Date | 29-01-1945 |
Takeoff Station | Linton-on-Ouse |
Day/Night Raid | Night (99% moon) |
Operation | Stuttgart. 602 aircraft, 11 losses (1.8%). A two-part raid with 3 hours between each. The first wave of 226 aircraft attacked railways yards at Kornwestheim. The second wave attacked Zuffenhausen which contained the Hirth engine factory. Sky-markers were used due to complete cloud cover and bombing was somewhat scattered. The Bosch factory was hit as a result of the Kornwestheim attack and it is said that the local people felt they had been bombed by mistake. Interestingly, dummy sky-makers were used in the defence of the city- small ground launched rockets. This was the last of 53 major raids on the city, which had endured a 63% destruction of its building stock and the loss of 4562 lives which was much lower than might have been the case had the air-raid defences been built into the sides of the hills. |
Reason for Loss |