HAUT NISTOS COMMUNAL CEMETERY

Haute-Pyrénées

France

GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 43.00142, Longitude: 0.46266

Location Information

Haut Nistos is a small village in the Haute-Pyrénées region of France.


Historical Information

There is a memorial plaque in the village indicating that the seven airmen are buried together in a small village at Pic De Douly in an Isolated Burial Ground.

Image in gallery below used with the permission of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Pic de Douly is a mountain in the Pyrénées in France
​On 14th July 1944, 7 Airmen from 624 Squadron were killed when their Halifax JN888 crashed into the mountain.
The CWGC plaque should read JN888 and not JN8884. RAF/Air Ministry aircraft only ever had five characters. 

145381 Flying Officer
Charles Spencer Goble
624 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
14th July 1944, aged 21. 

Son of David and Clarice Alma Goble, of Portsmouth.

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J/85070 Pilot Officer
Leslie Arthur Peers
624 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
14th July 1944, aged 27.

Son of Jeptha and Earlie Peers, of Chatham, Ontario, Canada; husband of Shirley Eileen Peers, of Chatham. ​

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Other Burial Details

152931 Flying Officer Albert John Baythorp, aged 20.  Son of Albert James Baythorp and Ethel Margaret Baythorp, of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire. ​

1451393 Sergeant Jack Brooke.

1592499 Sergeant Harry Clarke, aged 22. Son of Harry and Elsie Clarke, of Sheffield.

1652695 Sergeant James Edward Walsh. Son of John and Ann Walsh; husband of Elsie May Walsh, of Grange, Cardiff. 

1248157 Sergeant William Ronald Wharmby, aged 23. Son of William and Florence Wharmby; husband of Jessie Elizabeth Wharmby, of Bulwell, Nottinghamshire.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission did not recognise the above graves until 2014 due to their inaccessibility. The men had been officially listed as "missing" since 1944 and were commemoriated on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, England. It was 70 years to the day, on 14th July 2014 when the CWGC finally placed a plaque in the local cemetery to commemorate the 7 aircrew. At a ceremony on July 12th 2014 the members of 624 squadron were given the freedom of the local city of Tarbes.

Location of Pic de Douly Isolated Burial Ground
 7 airmen of the Royal Air Force rest in peace in this cemetery. 1 Canadian Pilot Officer and Commander of the aircraft and 6 British crew members. They died here on the night of 13/14 July 1944 when their aircraft crashed here. The Halifax aircraft came from Algeria, its mission was to parachute weapons to the Résistance Fighters of the 3201 FTPF. They were buried in secret on July 18th 1944 close to the wrecked aircraft by the Résistance fighters of the 3201 FTPF and inhabitants of Nistos and Seich ​