Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Grave Marker – Grave marker photo courtesy of Kelvin Youngs, Aircrew Remembered

Cemetery – Photo of St. Martin au Bosc cemetery CWGC burial plot for aircrew courtesy of Regis Biaux, France, and Pierre Vandervelden, Belgium, www.inmemories.com On 31 July 1944, the crew were airborne at 2151 from their base at RAF Leeming on a mission to attack the V-1 Site at St-Martin-au-Bosc with pilot Irish at the controls. The other Canadian crew members were P/O (N) John A. Santo; F/O (BA) John E. Gloeckler; P/O (AG) Hugh B. Gilmore; F/O (WAG) William J. Wright; and RAF P/O (FE) Reg. T. Walsham, from Hampshire. They joined a force of 202 aircraft – 104 Lancasters, 76 Halifaxes and 22 Mosquitos – sent on an operation to attack two V-1 launching and two storage sites. One Halifax and one Lancaster were lost. (RAF record)

Letter – Letter from Air Commission to 429 Squadron announcing the commission for pilot Banks was written on July 31, 1944, and received at 429 Squadron on August 2, 1944, two days after his death. The Squadron had not yet received word from the Germans that his body had been found at the crash site.

Memorial – Pilot Officer John Roy Irish is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Memorial – Pilot Officer John Roy Irish is also commemorated on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Memorial – Father J P Lardie's comments as inscribed on the Bomber Command Memorial Wall in Nanton, AB … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens

Photo of John and his mother Agnes – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Photo of JOHN ROY IRISH – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Photo of JOHN ROY IRISH – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Photo of JOHN ROY IRISH – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Photo – Found in service file. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Document – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Attestation paper – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Document – Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me

Newspaper clipping – From the Hamilton Spectator c.1943. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Newspaper clipping – From the Hamilton Spectator c. 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me

Photo of John Roy Irish – Pilot Officer John Roy Irish