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Seedhouse, Harold Charles

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Harold Charles
Surname Seedhouse
Gender M
Age 20
Date of Death 23-04-1944
Next of Kin Son of John Henry Seedhouse and Mary Seedhouse (née Compton), of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
SEEDHOUSE HC

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Handley Page Halifax III
Serial Number HX291
Markings BM-W

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Belgium
Burial/Memorial Place Heverlee War Cemetery
Grave Reference Coll. grave 5. E. 19-25.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 239

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/94384
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 433 (Porcupine)
Squadron Motto Quis 'y frotte s'y pique (Who opposes it gets hurt)
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Hamonterweg, Lozen, Limburg Province
Country Belgium
Memorial Type Memorial stone & inscribed metal plaque
Memorial Text De Britse bommenwerper Halifax HX 291 stortte heir te Lozen - Bocholt in Veldhoven neer - 22 April 1944
Translation "A British Halifax bomber HX291 crashed near Lozen Bocholt in Veldhoven - 22 April 1944"
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Miscellaneous Information

Harold was born at Toronto on 5 October 1923. Both parents were born in England and his father was a salesman. He had a brother John H. and a sister Muriel Mary. Harold was at Kennedy School 1930-1938 and again in 1938-1940 (Grade X). The sports he enjoyed were ice skating, baseball and swimming and he liked making model aircraft. Between 1940-1941 he worked as a labourer at British American Paint and again as a labourer at New Method Laundry between 1941-1942. He then worked as a truck driver for Handy Messenger during 1942 until enlisting on 10 November 1942.
After initial training, Harold embarked from Halifax on 13 September 1943, arriving in the U.K. at 3 PRC on 20 September 1943. From there he went to 19 OTU 28 September 1943, 1652 CU 17 November 1943, 81 OTU 15 January 1944, 61 Base 6 Feb 1944 and 433 Squadron 23 February 1944. This young man sadly lost his life from there on 23 April 1944.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1862/8
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1862/7

Fellow Servicemen

Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.

Boissevain H G (P/O)
Cumming J G (Sgt)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 22-04-1944
End Date 23-04-1944
Takeoff Station Skipton on Swale
Day/Night Raid Night (0% moon)
Operation Düsseldorf. 596 aircraft, 29 losses (4.9%). 2150 tones of bombs were dropped, causing considerable damage, mainly to the northern districts. 56 large industrial premises were hit, of which 7 were destroyed. More than 2000 homes were destroyed, 883 people killed and 593 injured, although these figures were compiled before all the missing had been dug out.
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night-fighter from 18000' near Weert, Holland. Abandoned whilst on fire, the aircraft then crashed near Meeuwen, Holland

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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.