Author Topic: 20th April Thomas James Wills aged 29, RFC/RAF 49 Squadron  (Read 1615 times)

Offline Meryll

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20th April Thomas James Wills aged 29, RFC/RAF 49 Squadron
« on: Thursday 19 January 17 22:37 GMT (UK) »
My maternal grandmother Florence Wills was born in Homerton, East London and was the youngest of four children of Samuel Wills and Emma Menella Wills née Harris.  Flo's brother Tom Wills was an Observer in the newly-formed RAF, and before the youngest service was three weeks old he had been killed in action near Diksmuide, shot down by Leutnant zur See Heinrich Wessels, who apparently had the distinction of being the oldest pilot in the German Air Force. 

The story that I heard from my aunt was that Tom's head was blown off, although evidently he was eventually identified, since he has a grave at Tyne Cot Cemetery, whereas so many are commemorated only as a name on one of the many panels.  Tom left a wife and three small daughters, and although his elder brother Fred did return from the War after serving in the Army, he was severely shell-shocked, never worked again and was always rendered acutely nervous by fireworks or loud noises. 

Thanks to the efforts of others I now have many details about a great-uncle whom I never knew, including a photograph of his gravestone and the number of his aircraft.  His nephew (also Tom) born in 1921 served in the RAF in World War II, but survived.  Like so many of us, when those who remembered the actual events were still there to pass on their memories, I never thought to ask the questions that now seem to me so obvious and essential.

So many years on from the harrowing events of the so-called "War to end all wars" and with the facility to access information at the click of a mouse, I'm also grateful for being able to find about some of those who at that time were the enemy.

"No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe....any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde" — John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

 
Anglesey: Pritchard & Mathew(s)
Bedfordshire: Veal. Money, Willson
Northants: Wills, Trench, Coles
Bucks: Hitchcox
London: Wills, Harris, Jones
Devon: Woodgates
Bangor/Llanllechid: Williams

Offline Meryll

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Re: 20th April Thomas James Wills aged 29, RFC/RAF 49 Squadron
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 23 July 17 19:42 BST (UK) »
Update July 2017: I found another online mention of Thomas James Willis on a timeline with information from Tyne and Wear Archives.  There was also a photograph of a marker in a German burial plot with the caption "Ein tapferer engl. Flieger, gest. 20.4.18" (A brave English flyer, died 20th April 1918).  The photograph was taken in 1919.

Apparently the ground where the Tyne Cot war cemetery is located was in German hands from early April 1918 and when Tom Wills was shot down on 20th April, he was over what was then enemy territory.  This and the fact that the pilot was taken prisoner would explain why the RAF records show him as presumed dead on that date.  He was buried and honoured by the German airmen, but probably his widow never knew.  Had it not been for the various projects connected with the 100th anniversary of the Great War, this link might never have come to light.
Anglesey: Pritchard & Mathew(s)
Bedfordshire: Veal. Money, Willson
Northants: Wills, Trench, Coles
Bucks: Hitchcox
London: Wills, Harris, Jones
Devon: Woodgates
Bangor/Llanllechid: Williams

Offline medpat

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Re: 20th April Thomas James Wills aged 29, RFC/RAF 49 Squadron
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 23 July 17 19:58 BST (UK) »
Hope you can find out as much as possible

In friendship and in service one to another, we are pledged to keep alive the memory of those of all Nations who died in the Royal Air Force and in the Air Forces of the Commonwealth.
In their name we give ourselves to this noble cause. Proudly and thankfully we will remember them.


We will remember


The dedication at each meeting of the Royal Air Force Association (RAFA)

I am ex WRAF and a member of RAFA
GEDmatch M157477

Offline alison300

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Re: 20th April Thomas James Wills aged 29, RFC/RAF 49 Squadron
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 16 October 21 16:46 BST (UK) »
Hi - thought you'd like to know that Sgt. Thomas James WILLS is named on the St. Luke, Hackney war memorial.  I am currently researching all the names on this memorial.
Wright (West Ham, Stratford, Cripplegate)
Widenstrom (Chicago and Minnesota)
Swain (Cripplegate, St Lukes)
Wolfe (St Giles in the Fields)
Willis (Gt. Leighs; Brentford)
Bryant (Bristol, Glos)
Searle (Kent/Surrey)
Keyworth (Yorkshire)
Biggs (Harrow Weald)
Collins (Harrow Weald and Wiltshire)
Langston (Harrow Weald)