15 Squadron's Short Stirling I (#W7576) aircraft, with an aircrew of seven, took off from RAF Wyton on a night air operation over Duisburg, Germany. W7576 was shot down by a German night-fighter, crashing near Horst (Limburg) 12 km NW of Venlo in the Netherlands. Three airmen perished in the crash; three airmen were captured and taken POW; one airman evaded capture, making his way back to England. The casualties of the crash were initially laid to rest in a Venlo Cemetery but were later reinterred in the Netherlands' Jonkerbos War Cemetery.
The airmen who perished in the attack and resulting crash were-
RAF Sergeant Phillip Denis BYRNE,
RCAF Flight Sergeant John Chisholm FITZGERALD and
RCAF Pilot Officer Wilbert Andrews SHOEMAKER DFC.
Military Service:-
Rank: Flight Sergeant
Trade: Air Gunner
Service Number: R/88211
Age: 19
Force: Air Force
Unit: Royal Canadian Air Force
Division: RAF 15 Squadron; RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire
[MOTTO: 'Aim Sure']
A student, residing on Atlantic Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, he enlisted in the RCAF on 11 March 1941 in Halifax.
Son of James O'Neill Fitzgerald and Nina Helen (née Chisholm) Fitzgerald of Halifax; brother of James, Nancy, Madeline, Margaret, and Colonel Joan Fitzgerald, OMM, OSTJ, CD.
Flight Sergeant John Chisholm Fitzgerald is commemorated on Page 73 of Canada's Second World War Book of Remembrance.
He is also commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
15 Squadron's Short Stirling I (#W7576) aircraft, with an aircrew of seven, took off from RAF Wyton on a night air operation over Duisburg, Germany. W7576 was shot down by a German night-fighter, crashing near Horst (Limburg) 12 km NW of Venlo in the Netherlands. Three airmen perished in the crash; three airmen were captured and taken POW; one airman evaded capture, making his way back to England. The casualties of the crash were initially laid to rest in a Venlo Cemetery but were later reinterred in the Netherlands' Jonkerbos War Cemetery.
The airmen who perished in the attack and resulting crash were-
RAF Sergeant Phillip Denis BYRNE,
RCAF Flight Sergeant John Chisholm FITZGERALD and
RCAF Pilot Officer Wilbert Andrews SHOEMAKER DFC.
Military Service:-
Rank: Flight Sergeant
Trade: Air Gunner
Service Number: R/88211
Age: 19
Force: Air Force
Unit: Royal Canadian Air Force
Division: RAF 15 Squadron; RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire
[MOTTO: 'Aim Sure']
A student, residing on Atlantic Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, he enlisted in the RCAF on 11 March 1941 in Halifax.
Son of James O'Neill Fitzgerald and Nina Helen (née Chisholm) Fitzgerald of Halifax; brother of James, Nancy, Madeline, Margaret, and Colonel Joan Fitzgerald, OMM, OSTJ, CD.
Flight Sergeant John Chisholm Fitzgerald is commemorated on Page 73 of Canada's Second World War Book of Remembrance.
He is also commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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