In the words of cousin Rosalie Murphy...
Isn’t it telling that it has taken an unrelated stranger, Jacky Emery, to invite us to do the right thing for our deceased and decorated war heroes: For uncle Bill and his crew this year would be, as with the D-Day landings, the 75th anniversary of their crash. David, my partner and I, determined that we would attend the ceremony to be held on Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th May, to honour the memory of my uncle: Pilot William McFarlane Russell, aged 35 and crew plus one unknown.
F/O Armour, James Alexander - W Op’/Air-gunner (22) DFC DFM
F/O Brown, Donald - Navigator (23) DFC
F/O Bryce, Alexander Frederick - Air-gunner (25)
F/O Cable, George - Flt engineer (23) DFM
F/O McGonagle, Bernard Pierce - Air-bomber (21) DFC
F/O Simister, Norman - Air-gunner (32) DFM
Pilot: Russell, William McFarlane - (35) DFC & bar
Rosalie, David and Tim O’Connor were joined by Rosalie’s daughter Katya and her husband at these events in France that weekend. As a result of modern day technology, many of our Russell Family relatives were able to feel connected to this heart wrenching weekend via photos and emails sent by both Rosalie and the French citizen, Mr Jacky Emery, who planned the events with assistance from local Mayors and community members.
For all of us it was a truly gratifying and very emotional journey. This document only touches on the events but photos will always assist in the understanding of such an historical occasion.
The second day-long ceremony was to be held at St Denis d’Orques, 38 km from where they had been laid to rest at Cemetiere L’Ouest, Le Mans. Many of the older men were parading their medals. Some of the older inhabitants could recall the momentous crash. At 9.55, all were gathered to march along to the church behind six flag-bearers: one for Ancient Combatants, another was, intriguingly, an SOE (Special Operations Executive) flag with Buckmaster also written upon it. Buckmaster was the head of Churchill’s French section SOE.
Tim and I wept on and off throughout the Mass especially when we saw eight local children sitting to our left each holding up an A4 size photo of Uncle Bill plus each of his crew plus one for the unknown person aboard.
Afterwards we all gathered around the First and Second World War memorial in front of the Romanesque church. It was freezing with a fierce northerly wind blowing. The children still holding up the photographs of the crew now stood in front of the memorial and were also holding a red rose each. They must have felt the bitter cold but stood staunchly for over an hour. Meanwhile, the great and the good from the local Conseil General and Madam le sous-préfet Sylvie Tolmont spoke to honour our fallen aviators.
The mayor then spoke equally as kindly, before Jacky Emery spoke. Jacky became very emotional while reading out his speech. The depth of Jacky’s deeply felt gratitude for all the fallen allies in France but especially so for the 80 deceased aviateurs laid to rest in his home town in Le Mans Cimetière L’Ouest, is truly humbling. He clearly spent months of his free time organising this superbly detailed event.
The mayor invited Dr Tim and myself to unveil the Union Jack covering the plaque which named Uncle Bill and his valiant crew. Dr Tim who had wept on and off throughout the memorial ceremony wept especially so now. He almost set the mayor a weeping. It was all so affecting.
The deed was finally done – and here we have it... A magnificent plaque containing the names of the Pilot and Crew of Halifax Bomber LL 280 NF-O – from the 138 Squadron RAF. No mention of course of the un-named person who died in the same crash and who – humanely – was buried beside the crew at Le Mans.
After the unveiling, a lighter mood prevailed as the children were given red, white and blue balloons - with photos of the memorial ceremony attached - to release to the skies. Up and up they flew as we all piled into our cars and US army jeeps. Why? Well, it had been whispered but we weren’t too sure.... we were all to be taken to the site near to the actual crash in order to lay a wreath. About 3kms south from the village. Simply being at the site of the crash was momentous. The weeping daughter of the lady who gave Uncle Bill wine, now laid a wreath under the flag pole designated as a crash site memorial.
Jacky Emery had managed to obtain the actual police report of the crash. More harrowing details about the bodies and of the gendarmes arriving on the scene and then the Nazis who took the bodies away.
In brother Neil’s account the Cormiers told him that the Maquis were waiting for the plane. However, David Harrison, an acknowledged expert on France’s SOE activities emailed me to say that he didn’t know why their plane was in the Sarthe area as there was. ‘Nothing going on that night...’ Jacky Emery mused that it may have been a last minute ‘add on’ as their main first drop was in the Ardennes for Operation Citronelle.
The band played hauntingly on as we all returned to the village for a presentation of a commemorative medal to Dr Tim and a gift for me. Jacky Emery presented us each with a framed picture of a Halifax with photos and names of Pilot and crew, including a metal scrap of the plane. Larger scraps of the downed plane were on show in the community hall with holes of machine-gun fire clearly visible. Dr. Tim though was gentlemanly anxious to give a thank you speech. An English member of the band, Anne, kindly interpreted as he spoke. The white-haired daughter of the farmer’s wife who last saw Uncle Bill alive told us that she had been away at boarding school at the time. When she returned home her mother had made her lovely white dresses from the parachute silk...a heartfelt end to a deeply heartfelt day. Dr Tim was definitely the star of the weekend and we loved his upbeat tender company.
On the 8th May, in France, they have an ‘Armistice’ bank holiday in order to remember all ours and their unknown fallen in both wars. Apt too that it is also the date of the tragic crash of Uncle Bill and his crew plus one unknown warrior a St Denis d’Orques le 8 mai, 1944. Heartfelt thanks to Rosalie for sharing her thoughts on this momentous occasion. It has been a pleasure to be able to create such an all-important family history document.
Ann Brett, Brisbane 2019