Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum was recently approached by historian Feutry Bernard about a memorial to Allied airmen who were killed during the Second World War in the Avesnois region of France, which was recently unveilled in the village of Boussières sur Sambre. Of the 116 named on the memorial, 69 are British, with one Flight Lieutenant known to have hailed from Leafield in Oxfordshire. Paul Geoffrey Chapman flew with No. 15 Squadron RAF when his Bristol Blenheim came down in Landrecies in May 1940. 

Following the opening of the new memorial, the village and local historians like Mr Bernard hope to be able to connect with the families of these men in order to better commemorate them.

Mr Bernard has provided the following full list of men named on the memorial, along with when they died and the area of Avesnois their aircraft was brought down in. You’ll also so a note if their families have already been found and contacted.

You can find out more about the village and the memorial here.

Aviateurs Avesnois Website

15-05-1940    nord Maubeuge                                                                                                                                  

Mark Medley Carter –  Bradfield – Berkshire     Family found

18-05-1940  Landrecies                                                                                                                                   

Francis Desmond Dawson Jones –  Blackheath – London

William Baxter –  Cardiff

Cyril Grace Watts – Tetbury – Gloucestershire       Family found

18-05-1940  Preux au Bois                                                                                                                                     

Hector Yeaes Lawrence – St  Peter – Gloucestershire

Reginald Georges Hopkins –  Wantage – Berkshire      Family found

18-05-1940  Landrecies                                                                                                                                          

Paul Geoffrey Chapman –  Leafield – Oxfordshire

Cecil Ernest Colbourn –  Winchmore Hill – Middlesex

Ernest John Fagg – Canterbury

18-05-1940 – Poix du Nord

Derek Huristone Allen– Leicester

06-05-1942   Wallers en Fagne                                                                                                                                    

John Arthur Edwards –  Dartford – Kent    Family found

Anthony John Higgins –  Gosberton – Lincolnshire

Arthur Sylwood Lush – Owlebury – Hampshire  – Family found

Geoffrey Sherwood Markland – ??

Robert Leonard Wootley – St John’s Hill – Battersea

17-06-1942 St Remy du Nord                                                                                                                                     

Leonard Clinton Fenton – Winchester

Thomas Watkins Rayment – ???

Donald White –  Nuttall – Nottinghamshire

20-09-1942 Locquignol                                                                                                                                                 

William Herbert Day – ???

Unich Edward Thomas Burford – ???

Michael Joseph Glynn – Lochore – Scotland – Family found

Charles McGough – Carlisle -Cumbria

25-10-1942 Jenlain                                                                                                                                                       

Arthur Quinn –  Seaham – Co. Durham

21-12-1942   Solre le Chateau                                                                                                                                

Frank George Fisher – ???

Gordon Thomas Hawkins – Wembley – Middlesex

Peter Laird Donald – Coventry

William Edward Ryan – Leeds – Yorshire

Edward Ryan Smith – ???

Frederick Trimmer – Finchley – Middlesex

10-03-1943  Wattignies la Victoire                                                                                                                           

Derrick Maxwell Barker – Bristol

Frank George Gibling Edwards – Edgware – Middlesex   

Reginald William Walker –  North Eartham – Norfolk

Joshua Morgan – ???

Herbert Brock – Rayne – Essex

Thomas Frame Millar – Paisley – Renfrewshire  Family found

Fred Salvage – ???

03-04-1943 Houdain les Bavay                                                                                                                            

William Olivier Peacock –  Edinburgh

Raymond Charles Sauders –  Southport – Lancashire

15-04-1943 Trelon                                                                                                                                                 

Joseph Leadbetter Cartmell – Fleetwood – Lancashire

Henry Eifion Clement – Velindre  – Swansea  family found

Robert Gordon Hamilton – Manchester

George William Henry Northover – Stratton – Dorsetshire

Aaron Ottulangui –  Bethnal Green

Peter Donovan Steed – Humberstone – Leicester

Franck Wood – ???

17-04- 1943  Eppe Sauvage                                                                                                                                

Graham George Williams – Saint Thomas – Swansea  family found

04-07-1943  Sains du Nord / Liessies

Frank Bertram Jackson –  Belper – Berbyshire

14-07-1943 – Wattignies la Victoire –                                                                                                                   

Walter Brown –  Gilesgate – Durham

 Henry Reginald  Coventry – ??

William  Hardy  –   Huckmall – Nottinghamshire

George Franck Hogg – Criccieth – Caernovonshire

Frederick Edward King  – Willesden – Middlesex

Geoffrey Tristram Pine Coffin – Chelsea London  Family found

Crosby Frank Read  – Lower Claford – Hampshire

26-03-1944   Boussignies sur Roc                                                                                                                    

Douglas Bartholomew Laidlow – Bowden- Roxburghshire

Douglas Sydney Lockett – Small Heath – Birmingham

Charles Banks – Stamford – Lincolnshire

Harold Walter Parsons – Nuneaton – Warwickshire

11-04- 1944 Vieux Mesnil                                                                                                                                         

Basil Guy Wiseman – Hendon – Middlesex

Dennis Robbins – Chapel End – Nuneaton    Family found

25-04-1944  Wallers Trelon                                                                                                                                   

David Reid Tait –  Broughty Ferry – Dundee    Family found

Harry Harbron – Bredfort – Yorkshire

Leonard Kirkham – Gordon  – Manchester

John Templeton –  Lockerbie – Dumfriesshire

Benjamin Cohen – Liverpool

28-04-1944  Dourlers

Alexis Louis Silverman – Harrow – Middlesex

Ronald Frank Collier – ???

Robert Johnstone Blake – Paisley – Renfrewshire

Leonard Francis Webb – Guilden Morden – Cambridgeshire

Robert Baillie Russell –  Burntisland – Fife

David Band Robertson – Leven- Fife