DOUARNENEZ COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Finistère
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 48.08806, Longitude: -4.32469
Location Information
Douarnenez is a well known tourist resort on the coast of Brittany. From the town centre travel south in the direction of Quimper. The communal cemetery will be found near the church of Ploare - a church easy to find as the steeple is very high.
At the lower right section of the cemetery, within a kerbed area against the wall, are the 3 Commonwealth war graves and a memorial to four French war casualties.
Burial Details
1382229 Flight Sergeant Reginald Howard Pool, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner in 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died 5th August 1944, aged 21. Son of Reginald Kingsley Pool and Rose Mabel Pool, of Hornsey, Middlesex. His headstone bears the inscription "Be Thou Faithful Unto Death And I Will Give Thee A Crown Of Life"
178240 Pilot Officer William Noel Wait, Air Gunner in 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died 5th August 1944, aged 21. Son of William Arthur and Winifred Florence Wait, of Lichfield, Staffordshire. His headstone bears the inscription "At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Them"
175644 Pilot Officer Robert Welch, Navigator in 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died 5th August 1944, aged 21. Son of William Turnbull Welch and Isabel Welch, of Greenock, Renfrewshire. His headstone bears the inscription "Beloved Elder Son Of William And Isabel Welch, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland"
Douarnenez is a well known tourist resort on the coast of Brittany. From the town centre travel south in the direction of Quimper. The communal cemetery will be found near the church of Ploare - a church easy to find as the steeple is very high.
At the lower right section of the cemetery, within a kerbed area against the wall, are the 3 Commonwealth war graves and a memorial to four French war casualties.
Burial Details
1382229 Flight Sergeant Reginald Howard Pool, Wireless Operator/Air Gunner in 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died 5th August 1944, aged 21. Son of Reginald Kingsley Pool and Rose Mabel Pool, of Hornsey, Middlesex. His headstone bears the inscription "Be Thou Faithful Unto Death And I Will Give Thee A Crown Of Life"
178240 Pilot Officer William Noel Wait, Air Gunner in 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died 5th August 1944, aged 21. Son of William Arthur and Winifred Florence Wait, of Lichfield, Staffordshire. His headstone bears the inscription "At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Them"
175644 Pilot Officer Robert Welch, Navigator in 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, died 5th August 1944, aged 21. Son of William Turnbull Welch and Isabel Welch, of Greenock, Renfrewshire. His headstone bears the inscription "Beloved Elder Son Of William And Isabel Welch, Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland"
617 Squadron's Avro Lancaster III (#JB139) bomber aircraft [called 'Dark Victory'], with an aircrew of seven, took off from RAF Woodhall Spa for a morning air operation over the U-Boat Pens at Brest, France. JB139 was hit and damaged by flak, resulting in its crashing into the waters of Douarnenez Bay, taking the lives of three members of the crew. The four other airmen survived the crash and with the brave assistance of French civilians, were able to evade capture by the enemy,
Images in gallery below © Thierry Grier
Aircrew of JB139: Top row-R. Pool, J. Rosher, N. Wait, M. McRostie
Bottom row-R. Welch, D. Cheney, L. Curtis
Bottom row-R. Welch, D. Cheney, L. Curtis
