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White, William Richard

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Personal Information

Rank Sgt
Forename(s) William Richard
Surname White
Gender M
Age 19
Decorations
Date of Death 09-07-1944
Next of Kin Son of Adam White and Susan Sinclair White (née Millward), of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
WHITE WR

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster I
Serial Number R5625
Markings GI-B

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country United Kingdom
Burial/Memorial Place Runnymede Memorial
Grave Reference Panel 256.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 263

Enlistment Information

Service Number R/221536
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 3
Squadron 622
Trade Air Gunner
Country of Origin Canada

Other Memorials

Location Church of St. John, Beck Row, Suffolk
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Inscribed Slate Tablet on rear external wall of Church
Memorial Text In remembrance of all who served at RAF Mildenhall and associated aerodromes in the cause of freedom, 1939-1945
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Miscellaneous Information

William was born on 16 August 1924 at Brandon, Manitoba. His father, who died in 1941, was a locomotive fireman and both parents were born in Scotland and also married there. He had two sisters as well as a brother Adam. The schools William attended were Buena Vista 1930-1938 and then Nutana Collegiate 1938-1941 (Grade 10). His sport interests were football, baseball, and skiing. William worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia as a clerk 1941-1942 and then at the Ship Yards for Burrard DryDock as a Loftsman helper from 1942 onwards.
He then enlisted on 11 February 1943 and after training embarked for the U.K. on 1 November 1943, arriving at 3(RCAF) PRC on 10 November 1943. He then went to 12 OTU on 14 Dec 1943, 31 Base 25 February 1944, and 622 Squadron on 10 June 1944. It was from there that William sadly lost his life on 9 July 1944 at the age of only nineteen.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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The National Archives

Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2143/7
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/2138/1

Fellow Servicemen

Bamford P E (W/O)
Barlow D V (Sgt)
Blyth J (Sgt)
Fletcher J A (F/O)
Lanceley S E (Sgt)
Polkinghorne H C (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 09-07-1944
End Date 09-07-1944
Takeoff Station Mildenhall
Day/Night Raid Day
Operation Lisieux- to attack a flying-bomb site. Part of a 347 aircraft daylight raid on six V-bomb launch sites. Most of the sites were cloud-covered and some of the bombing was consequently scattered. Two aircraft were Lost
Reason for Loss Lost without trace

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.

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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.