MESSAC COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Ille-et-Vilaine
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 47.82257, Longitude: -1.80686
Location Information
The village and commune of Messac lies 32 kilometres south-south-west of Rennes and 30 kilometres north-east of the town of Redon. The village is 8 kilometres east of the Rennes Redon road (N.177). The communal cemetery is south of the church, on the road (D.69) to the neighbouring village of Le Grand Fougeray.
There is 1 Commonwealth burial of the 1939-1945 war here, in the north-eastern corner.
The village and commune of Messac lies 32 kilometres south-south-west of Rennes and 30 kilometres north-east of the town of Redon. The village is 8 kilometres east of the Rennes Redon road (N.177). The communal cemetery is south of the church, on the road (D.69) to the neighbouring village of Le Grand Fougeray.
There is 1 Commonwealth burial of the 1939-1945 war here, in the north-eastern corner.
Images in gallery below © Thierry Grier
127192 Flying Officer
John Perry Alcock
161 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
5th August 1944, aged 30.
Husband of Dosie Margaret Alcock, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
His headstone bears the inscription "Always To Live In My Heart"
Educated at Northampton Grammar School and Salesian College, Battersea, London.
He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards on the 24th October 1932 and remained with them untl the 23rd October 1936 and then joined the Police Force.
The 1939 register shows him living at 13 Alexander Drive, Altrincham and his occupation as police constable (Army 'B' Reserve Coldstream Guardsman No. 2655780.)
On the 1st December 1939 he joined the Military Police, being transferred into the R.A.F. on the 30th June 1941. He was sent to Brough near Hull at No. 4 E.F.T.S. and continued his training at Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada and for advanced training at Alabama, U.S.A.
John Alcock was the husband of Dosie Margaret Alcock (nee Harper), of Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Thehy married in 1942.
He was a tall, blond and athletic man who had joined the army and initially served in a Guards regiment during the early stages of the Second World War. Eager to get into action, he was disappointed, and somewhat frustrated, when his unit was held at home. Eventually John decided to join the RAF and after completing his transfer began to train as a pilot. Ironically, after his transfer the Guards regiment he was originally serving with was sent into action in North Africa.
After completing his training John was posted to No.631 Squadron which performed the rather inglorious task of target towing and he was soon looking to move to a Squadron where he could see some action. In March 1944 John, or "Cocky" as he was known, was to get his heart's desire when he joined No.161 Squadron.
John was known as a talented, well respected and highly trained pilot and had been assigned to the crack Squadron, based at RAF Winkleigh, Devon, to fly secretive Lysander sorties. The Black Squadron, so called due to the colour of their aircraft, was a special operational duties squadron whose clandestine missions included carrying out secret and dangerous landings in the course of ferrying secret agents to and from the Continent. These were always high priority intelligence & sabotage missions for the Special Operations Executive (SOE.)
On the 30th April 1944 John Alcock flew his first operation. This was known as a "Double" mission with John and Flight Lieutenant Bob Large both landing at the same secret airfield to recover some SOE agents. Operation "Organist", as it was known, was detailed to send two Lysander aircraft to Chateauroux in order to drop three agents and pick up two who had been performing a reconnaissance of the Rouen area. There had been a high number of arrests in the region due to intense Gestapo activity. The agents to be collected were Philippe Liewer and Violette Szabo, two of the SOE's most famous operators. Liewer, whose face was on many "Wanted" posters and had left Rouen for his own safety, flew with John Alcock whilst Szabo flew with Bob Large. John was said to be absolutely delighted that he had managed to find the landing ground by his own navigation and could hardly contain his excitement. The highly dangerous flight was almost fatal for Bob Large, a tyre on his "Lizzie" had been torn off by flak near Chateaudun and on landing at Tempsford the aircraft performed a 360 degree ground loop. Violette Szabo, thinking they were still in France, did not see that Bob Large had climbed down from his cockpit and was walking around the aircraft to the passenger door. When she spotted him approaching the aircraft she thought, due to the early morning light and Bob's blue uniform, that he was a German airman. Fortunately she was not armed with anything more than an umbrella and she emerged from the passenger compartment brandishing the brolly and emitting a string of profanities, all in French. The arrival of some SOE staff ensured that both Pilot and passenger were recovered unscathed but the incident could have been a serious one for Bob Large had she been armed with a revolver or some other form of weapon.
Tragedy struck John Alcock and his wife, Dosie, on the 17th July 1944 when their four month old baby daughter, Carolyn, died suddenly. It was to be just a few weeks later when Dosie was to lose her husband too.
The night of the 4th/5th August 1944 was to be John Alcock's Second and, tragically, last Operational flight with No.161 Squadron. He was, once again, on a "Doubles" flight, code named Operation "Pirouge", this time with Flying Officer Peter Arkell who was on his first SOE operational flight. They were destined for Vallon, south of the Loire and John Alcock was piloting a Lysander (V9758). His priceless cargo on that night was a French Resistance espionage agent called Lucien Germereau, cover name, Lucien Pradier of Réseau Écarlate (The Scarlet Network). Germereau was more than just another important individual though. He was Director of the Chateauroux sector of the Réseau Écarlate and was returning to France after a secret debriefing in London. John Alcock's orders were simple and to the point. Get him home.
The mission was made even more dangerous by the fact that the Allies, now strengthening their position in Normandy, were performing Intruder flights into the area to harass the enemy and destroy any opportune targets. As the Lysanders climbed away from the English coast line and into French airspace, radar from Tailcoat G.C.I. (A Radar system operating in Britain ) picked up the two clandestine aircraft. To the Radar operators these were possible enemy aircraft off the coast and they scrambled an RCAF Mosquito night fighter from No. 410 Cougar Squadron, based at RAF Colerne in Wiltshire. Its pilot F/Lt. W.G. Dinsdale, was ready to pounce. With its supercharged speed, it didn't take long for the Mosquito to catch up with its prey which it followed for some 25 miles with flaps down and at a reduced airspeed way down at the bottom of its limits. Dinsdale later suggested in his report that he did all he could to try to identify the target aircraft. Believing the black camouflaged Lysander to be a Luftwaffe Henschel Hs 126, Dinsdale peeled off and fired two bursts of cannon from about 150 yards range into the belly of the Lysander. Alcock's fuel tank exploded and both he and Lucien Germereau were killed instantly. The Lysander crashing in flames in a field near a farm called La Patouillais, about one kilometre from the town of Messac, Ile et Vilaine, in Brittany, France. The English pilot and his French comrade were buried together with full French honours the following day at Messac's Parish Church. On the tragic night when John Alcock and Lucien Germereau were killed, no less than five Lysanders left RAF Winkleigh on secret missions. All with orders to land their precious cargoes at various destinations in France and all the aircraft, except John's, returned safely to its Devon airbase and continued their role in the war effort.
John Perry Alcock
161 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
5th August 1944, aged 30.
Husband of Dosie Margaret Alcock, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
His headstone bears the inscription "Always To Live In My Heart"
Educated at Northampton Grammar School and Salesian College, Battersea, London.
He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards on the 24th October 1932 and remained with them untl the 23rd October 1936 and then joined the Police Force.
The 1939 register shows him living at 13 Alexander Drive, Altrincham and his occupation as police constable (Army 'B' Reserve Coldstream Guardsman No. 2655780.)
On the 1st December 1939 he joined the Military Police, being transferred into the R.A.F. on the 30th June 1941. He was sent to Brough near Hull at No. 4 E.F.T.S. and continued his training at Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada and for advanced training at Alabama, U.S.A.
John Alcock was the husband of Dosie Margaret Alcock (nee Harper), of Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Thehy married in 1942.
He was a tall, blond and athletic man who had joined the army and initially served in a Guards regiment during the early stages of the Second World War. Eager to get into action, he was disappointed, and somewhat frustrated, when his unit was held at home. Eventually John decided to join the RAF and after completing his transfer began to train as a pilot. Ironically, after his transfer the Guards regiment he was originally serving with was sent into action in North Africa.
After completing his training John was posted to No.631 Squadron which performed the rather inglorious task of target towing and he was soon looking to move to a Squadron where he could see some action. In March 1944 John, or "Cocky" as he was known, was to get his heart's desire when he joined No.161 Squadron.
John was known as a talented, well respected and highly trained pilot and had been assigned to the crack Squadron, based at RAF Winkleigh, Devon, to fly secretive Lysander sorties. The Black Squadron, so called due to the colour of their aircraft, was a special operational duties squadron whose clandestine missions included carrying out secret and dangerous landings in the course of ferrying secret agents to and from the Continent. These were always high priority intelligence & sabotage missions for the Special Operations Executive (SOE.)
On the 30th April 1944 John Alcock flew his first operation. This was known as a "Double" mission with John and Flight Lieutenant Bob Large both landing at the same secret airfield to recover some SOE agents. Operation "Organist", as it was known, was detailed to send two Lysander aircraft to Chateauroux in order to drop three agents and pick up two who had been performing a reconnaissance of the Rouen area. There had been a high number of arrests in the region due to intense Gestapo activity. The agents to be collected were Philippe Liewer and Violette Szabo, two of the SOE's most famous operators. Liewer, whose face was on many "Wanted" posters and had left Rouen for his own safety, flew with John Alcock whilst Szabo flew with Bob Large. John was said to be absolutely delighted that he had managed to find the landing ground by his own navigation and could hardly contain his excitement. The highly dangerous flight was almost fatal for Bob Large, a tyre on his "Lizzie" had been torn off by flak near Chateaudun and on landing at Tempsford the aircraft performed a 360 degree ground loop. Violette Szabo, thinking they were still in France, did not see that Bob Large had climbed down from his cockpit and was walking around the aircraft to the passenger door. When she spotted him approaching the aircraft she thought, due to the early morning light and Bob's blue uniform, that he was a German airman. Fortunately she was not armed with anything more than an umbrella and she emerged from the passenger compartment brandishing the brolly and emitting a string of profanities, all in French. The arrival of some SOE staff ensured that both Pilot and passenger were recovered unscathed but the incident could have been a serious one for Bob Large had she been armed with a revolver or some other form of weapon.
Tragedy struck John Alcock and his wife, Dosie, on the 17th July 1944 when their four month old baby daughter, Carolyn, died suddenly. It was to be just a few weeks later when Dosie was to lose her husband too.
The night of the 4th/5th August 1944 was to be John Alcock's Second and, tragically, last Operational flight with No.161 Squadron. He was, once again, on a "Doubles" flight, code named Operation "Pirouge", this time with Flying Officer Peter Arkell who was on his first SOE operational flight. They were destined for Vallon, south of the Loire and John Alcock was piloting a Lysander (V9758). His priceless cargo on that night was a French Resistance espionage agent called Lucien Germereau, cover name, Lucien Pradier of Réseau Écarlate (The Scarlet Network). Germereau was more than just another important individual though. He was Director of the Chateauroux sector of the Réseau Écarlate and was returning to France after a secret debriefing in London. John Alcock's orders were simple and to the point. Get him home.
The mission was made even more dangerous by the fact that the Allies, now strengthening their position in Normandy, were performing Intruder flights into the area to harass the enemy and destroy any opportune targets. As the Lysanders climbed away from the English coast line and into French airspace, radar from Tailcoat G.C.I. (A Radar system operating in Britain ) picked up the two clandestine aircraft. To the Radar operators these were possible enemy aircraft off the coast and they scrambled an RCAF Mosquito night fighter from No. 410 Cougar Squadron, based at RAF Colerne in Wiltshire. Its pilot F/Lt. W.G. Dinsdale, was ready to pounce. With its supercharged speed, it didn't take long for the Mosquito to catch up with its prey which it followed for some 25 miles with flaps down and at a reduced airspeed way down at the bottom of its limits. Dinsdale later suggested in his report that he did all he could to try to identify the target aircraft. Believing the black camouflaged Lysander to be a Luftwaffe Henschel Hs 126, Dinsdale peeled off and fired two bursts of cannon from about 150 yards range into the belly of the Lysander. Alcock's fuel tank exploded and both he and Lucien Germereau were killed instantly. The Lysander crashing in flames in a field near a farm called La Patouillais, about one kilometre from the town of Messac, Ile et Vilaine, in Brittany, France. The English pilot and his French comrade were buried together with full French honours the following day at Messac's Parish Church. On the tragic night when John Alcock and Lucien Germereau were killed, no less than five Lysanders left RAF Winkleigh on secret missions. All with orders to land their precious cargoes at various destinations in France and all the aircraft, except John's, returned safely to its Devon airbase and continued their role in the war effort.
