Vannier, Joseph Jacques Rodolphe

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Personal Information

Rank P/O
Forename(s) Joseph Jacques Rodolphe
Surname Vannier
Gender M
Age 23
Date of Death 13-07-1944
Next of Kin Son of Wilfred Ernest Vannier and Annociade Vannier (née Fortier), of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada.
VANNIER JJR

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Vickers Wellington
Serial Number MF494
Markings -G

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Runnymede Memorial
Grave Reference Panel 253.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 257

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/89739
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 415 (Swordfish)
Squadron Motto Ad metam (To the mark)
Trade WOp/AG
Country of Origin Canada

Miscellaneous Information

Transferred from Coastal to Bomber Command the day before. Nevertheless, this was clearly a Coastal Command sortie.
Joseph was born on 5 October 1920 at Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. His father was born at Aubrey, Quebec and was an invalid and his mother was born at Sturgeon Falls. He had a brother who was an L,A.C at Leeming, Yorkshire, England. The schools he attended were Holy Cross Separate School 1924-1935 followed by Haileybury School of mines, 1935-1939. Between 1935-1939 he also worked as an apprentice carpenter to HG Cooper of Haileybury, followed by a Baker ‘s helper 1939-1940. Joseph then worked at the Empire Cotton Mills in Welland as a weaver between October to December but left because he found it unhealthy. He then worked at the Canadian Diamond Bit Company as an apprentice setter. His hobby was woodwork and sports included swimming, skating and skiing.
Joseph enlisted in North Bay on 30 July 1941. He arrived at 415 Squadron on 23 February 1944. He then sadly lost his life on 13 July 1944 whilst on an anti shipping patrol off the Dutch coast.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1813/4
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/1813/3

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.

Crawley E G (P/O)
Findlay L E (P/O)
Hands J (F/S)
Harman R L (F/L)
Huish G K (P/O)
Sheen R J (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 13-07-1944
End Date 14-07-1944
Day/Night Raid Night (37% moon)
Operation Anti-shipping patrol- Frisians, Dutch Coast and Dunkirk
Reason for Loss Lost without trace. The two other aircraft on the patrol reported a sighting of a night-fighter and Nachtjagd confirms Uffz Rudolf Wilsch of 7./NJG1 shot it down, this being his one and only claim.

Honour This Person

Since 1945 the brave men and women who gave their lives whilst in the service of Bomber Command, to protect our country have been largely ignored and forgotten by successive governments.

It is now time to make that right.

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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.