Trace, Jack Richdale
Personal Information
Rank | F/S |
Forename(s) | Jack Richdale |
Surname | Trace |
Gender | M |
Age | 27 |
Decorations | |
Date of Death | 06-09-1943 |
Next of Kin | Son of John Henry Trace and Florence Isabel Trace (née Richdale), of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Handley Page Halifax II |
Serial Number | LW229 |
Markings | EY-Y |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | Germany |
Burial/Memorial Place | Rheinberg War Cemetery |
Grave Reference | 18. C. 22. |
Epitaph |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 255 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | R/157548 |
Service | Royal Canadian Air Force |
Group | 4 |
Squadron | 78 |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of Origin | Canada |
Other Memorials
Location | Adjacent to Clubhouse, Breighton Airfield, East Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Marble Tablet |
Memorial Text | Dedicated to all who served at this airfield and gave their lives during World War II |
Location | External, All Saints Church, Bubwith, East Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Stone Memorial, inscribed Metal Plaque |
Memorial Text | 78 Sqn 4 Group Bomber Command Yorkshire 1939 - 1945 To All Who Served |
Location | Internal, All Saints Church, Bubwith, East Yorkshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Wooden Board, Memorial Chapel featuring Cross made from Halifax wreckage |
Memorial Text | The 78 Sqn Memorial in the Churchyard was dedicated by the Bishop of Selby on 7th September 1986. RAF Breighton, two miles from this church was the Sqn's home from June 1943 to May 1945 |
Location | Outside "B" Hangar, RAF Benson, Oxfordshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Memorial Stone & Inscribed Slate Plaque |
Memorial Text | In proud memory of all who have lost their lives serving with 78 Sqn Royal Air Force "Nemo Non Paratus - Nobody Unprepared" |
Miscellaneous Information
Jack was born on 10 October 1915 at Victoria, British Columbia. Both parents were born in Victoria and his father worked as a clerk. He had two brothers, Harold William and David Carlton. He went to George Jay Boy’s Central school 1921-1929 followed by Victoria High school 1929-1932 (Jnr. Matric). He also attended Sprott Shaw Business College 1934-1935, where he studied bookkeeping and stenography. His sport interests were swimming, tennis, bowling and badminton. Between 1935-1937 he worked as a Timekeeper for British Columbia Cement Co. Ltd at Bemkerton, B.C. and then at Dominion Government Esquimalt Dockyard as a stenographer from November 1937 onwards. |
He enlisted on 24 February 1942 and after training was posted to the U.K. He arrived in the U.K. at 3PRC on 18 December 1942 then continued to 24 OTU 23 February 1943, 1658 CU 24 May 1943, 78 Sqn 18 June 1943, 1652 CU 3 August 1943 and 78 Squadron on 31 August 1943. Just days later on 6 September 1943, Jack sadly lost his life. |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/660/78 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/660/77 |
Fellow Servicemen
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 05-09-1943 |
End Date | 06-09-1943 |
Takeoff Station | Breighton |
Day/Night Raid | Night (34% moon) |
Operation | Mannheim/ Ludwigshafen. 605 aircraft, 34 losses (5.6%). Clear conditions- PFF marking plan worked perfectly. The main force approached from the west so that they could bomb Mannheim first and then move on to Ludwigshafen. Little creepback took place and much damage was caused to both targets. The normally detailed report from Mannheim was much less so, suggesting that the raid was so severe that the normal information gathering procedures has broken down amidst the destruction. Ludwigshafen described the raid simply as 'a catastrophe'. In the latter, 1080 dwellings, 6 military buildings and 4 industrial buildings were destroyed. The death toll was relatively low for such a large raid- 127- perhaps indicating that much of the city's population had been evacuated in the wake of the firestorm incident in Hamburg. |
Reason for Loss | Shot down by a night-fighter, setting the port wing and flight engineer's bay ablaze. Crashed in the target area |