Hello,
Many thanks for your replies.
KGarrad, I believe that the two marriages (names and dates) you sent are the correct ones. I appreciate your help.
Jay, I doubt that the births of the five children you included in your reply belong to Sidney and Elizabeth Gardiner. Sidney would have been only 13 yrs. old in 1925. I believe the same applies for the years 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930. Sidney would have been only 18 in 1930 so it's possible that the parents of these children belong to another Sidney Rhodes and yet another 'Gardiner'.
As for the birth of a son, Anthony D. Rhodes, this one is a possibility given the date of his marriage in 1934, but again, we don't know for sure.
I am not related to this Sidney Rhodes. My interest is WW II related. He was actually Sgt. Sidney Rhodes, Flight Eng. R.A.F.V.R. He was one of two survivors of the first R.C.A.F. Pathfinder Squadron formed out of 156 Squadron, Group 8. There were 7 men aboard this Lancaster III bomber PB477 when it was shot down over Rohrau, Germany the night of 02 January 1945 on a raid to Nuremberg. Five of the crew died, including my uncle. Sgt. Rhodes and one of the Canadians, W/O/1 D. G. Plyley were the only two survivors. Both men were sucked out of the plane which exploded in mid-air and managed to parachute to safety. Both spent approximately 5 1/2 months in Stalag Luft 1 as POWs until freed by the Russians around May 14, 1945.
I have been working on a report of PB477 for a number of months and have been successful in tracking down information on the crew members not only from a personal aspect but also to learn of previous squadrons these men served with. Sidney Rhodes has been my only hang-up and difficult to research. Had it not been for a document that I received from a relative of Plyley, I wouldn't even know at this point where Rhodes was from. This hand-written document is a list of all the POWs in Block 304, North Compound, Room 3, and gives Sgt. Rhodes' address as 112 Tanfield Grove, Bilton Grange, Hull, E. Yorkshire.
Between this address and his death in Bridlington in July of 1985, I would dearly love to make contact with a descendant of Sidney's. There has to be somebody out there somewhere.
I have thought of sending for his records from the Archives in the U.K. which will cost me $95.00 CDN converted from 60£ I have been told that these records consist of only 4 pages....a lot of money for 4 pages.
Carleton
