Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Stephen Mate (Maitland)
Passenger on the flight
Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Parent Unit: British Army (General List) Special Forces
Lieutenant
Service No: 84000
Stephen Mate was born on August 20, 1911 in Kurd, Tolna, Hungary the son of
Ferenez Mait (1889-1970) and Maria (Horvath) Mait. He was the brother of Rozalia
Mate (Matyasovszky) (1922-2005) and Marie Mate.
Ferenez Mait immigrated to Canada in 1927; his wife and three children arrived in
1929 when Stephen was age eighteen. The family lived in Ontario.
Stephen enlisted on August 28, 1942 at Port Arthur, Ontario. however, on October
18, 1943. Fluent in both the English and Hungarian languages he was accepted for
training with British Security Co-ordination (BSC), and was discharged from the
Canadian Army on October 18, 1943. He then began training at Camp X for service
with Special Operations Executive (SOE) a secret British World War II organisation.
The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in
occupied Europe and South-east Asia against the Axis powers, and to aid local
resistance movements.
Following a three month training
Stephen Mate moved to England and
was given a new identity by the SOE as
Lt. Stephen Maitland. He joined SOE in
October 1943. He was en-route to
Hungary via Brindisi in Italy to Hungary
on an Special Operations Executive
(SOE) mission.
Age: 34
Cemetery: Newquay (Fairpark)
Cemetery, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Grave Reference: 686.
Sources:
cbc article
findagrave
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Mystery Flight
Royal Air Force Squadron 525
Crew and Passengers
Mystery Flight
Royal Air Force Squadron 525
Crew and Passengers
Flight Crew
Józef Król
Passenger on the flight
Major
Polish Forces (Senior Chaplain)
Józef Król was born on March 21, 1906 at Ignacowka, Gmina Jedrejow, the son of
Andrze Krol and Rozalia Marcinkowska.
He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1933 and on August 24, 1939 was
appointed a military Chaplain. He was sent to England to work with the First Polish
Corps and he served in both England and Scotland.
He obtained permission to return to Poland in 1944 and was to travel from England
to Gibraltar and from there to Bari in Italy, before being transferred to Poland.
He was killed when the 525 RAF Squadron Vickers Warwick C Mark I, BV247 was
lost on April 17, 1944
Cemetery: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, England
Grave Reference: Plot 27, Row C, Grave 3
Sources:
findagrave
polish war graves
Ipswich War Memorial
Roger Achille Albert Baudouin, (Baudoin)
Passenger on the flight
Commandant
Free French
Roger Baudoin, born November 6th, 18961896, distinguished himself as a
young Lieutenant in World War I and was decorated with the Croix de
Guerre and
was honoured as a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion
of Honor).
After 1918, as a poly technician, he became a specialist in cryptography,
and was recognized worldwide. He was the author of the book Elements of
Cryptography.
On June 13, 1940, he left France to join General de Gaulle in London and
worked with MI.6 and the British Government Communications
Headquarters at Bletchley Park with the decoding intelligence services.
Roger Baudoin was promoted to Commander in 1943. He participated in
Operation Fortitude the code name for the World War II military deception
employed by the Allies during the build-up to the 1944 Normandy landings,
disinformation and diversionary operations which made the Germans
believe that the landing would take place in Pas-de-Calais and not in
Normandy.
As a passenger on the flight he was en route from London to Algiers.
His funeral took place in Westminster Cathedral, attended by Winston
Churchill.
At the request of Stéphane Baudoin, his grandson, and members of the
family, the elected officials, the Associations of Veterans and the Prefecture
of La Chapelle-Yvon honoured Roger Baudoin, whose parents were married
in the town, when his name was inscribed on the La Chapelle-Yvon War
Memorial.
Date of death:
April 17th, 1944
Age at Death:
47
Cemetery:
Brookwood Military Cemetery (French War Graves)
Plot: 29. Row: D. Grave: 14.
Awards:
Croix de Guerre
Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur
Knight of the Legion of Honor
Sources:
Traces of War
Ouest France
Free French Cemetery
Maurice Schwob
Passenger on the flight
M.O.S.F.F. (Free French Government Agent)
Maurice Schwob was born on July 20 1897 in Paris, France, the son Leon and
Helena Schwob. He was the husband of Marjorie (Stralem) Schwob (1901-1995) and
father of Anne Marie Stehlin (Schwob) (b.1926 Paris, France) and Diane Helene
(Strong) Schwob (b. 1932 Paris, France). Marjorie (Stralem) Schwob was born in
the United States and married Maurice Schwob on December 10, 1925 in New York.
He was six feet, one inch in height, with a dark complexion, brown hair, and blue
eyes.
Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Maurice Schwob was an industrialist and
merchant and travelled extensively, including visits to France, England,
Switzerland, China (Shanghai), Canada, and the United States. During World War II
he served as a Free French Government Agent and travelled to the United States,
Australia, Canada, and the Pacific.
In 1942 the Free French High Commissioner for the Pacific, Thierry d’Argenlieu,
was located in Nouméa, the capital of the South Pacific overseas French territory,
New Caledonia, and Maurice Schwob served as Attaché to the Civilian Cabinet. In
January 28, 1942, he carried a letter of introduction to Washington and the
request for assistance necessary to ensure the defence of the French possessions
in the Pacific and met with Summer Welles , a major foreign policy adviser to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1936
to 1943.
Maurice Schwob travelled via Australia on the SS President Coolidge, Melbourne,
Australia to New York on February 15, 1942, travelling as a Free French,
Government Agent.
On April 17, 1944 he was travelling from London to Algiers carrying documents to
meet with General De Gaulle in Algiers.
Age at Death: 46
Burial information: unknown
Sources:
US Office of the Historian
Edmund J. Gójski
Passenger on the flight
Captain
Polish Army (Polish Courier)
Born July 25, 1907 at Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland. On the flight, he was one
of two Polish couriers en route to Warsaw.
Age: 36
Cemetery: Brookwood Military Cemetery
Grave Reference: Plot 27 Row C Grave 2.
Sources:
findagrave.com
polishwargraves.nl
Stanley Casson
Passenger on the flight
Lieutenant Colonel
Service Number: 98094 (Listed as 90894 on official document)
British Intelligence Corps
Stanley Casson was, born May 7, 1889, was the son of William Augustus and
Kate Elizabeth Casson and husband of Nora Elizabeth
Art scholar and distinguished Army officer, Stanley Casson read Classical
Archaeology at Lincoln College and St. John's College, Oxford, and was
admitted to the British School at Athens.
During the First World War he enlisted in the East Lancashire Regiment, and as
an officer with an infantry regiment in the trenches of Flanders before
becoming part of the British Salonika Force in 1916 and finally serving on the
General Staff in 1918. He was wounded in Flanders in 1915. His war poetry is
now in the War Poetry Collection at Napier University in Edinburgh. He
subsequently served on the General Staff in Greece, Constantinople and
Turkestan, and was mentioned in despatches.
After demobilisation in 1919 Casson returned to academia, becoming Assistant
Director of the British School at Athens, Fellow of New College, Oxford, and
Lecturer in Classical Archaeology. He directed British Academy excavations in
Constantinople in the late Twenties. During this period he published thirteen
books of archaeology, art history, philosophy and autobiography.
At the outbreak of the Second World War he resumed his Army career, first in
Holland and later returning to Greece as Lieutenant Colonel in the Intelligence
Corps, where he was a liaison officer until his death, at age 58 years, in a
plane crash in 1944 at sea near Newquay, Cornwall.
Age: 54
Cemetery: Newquay (Fairpark) Cemetery, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Grave Reference: 684
Sources:
cwgc.org
findagrave.com
Ivor Watkins Birts (Listed as Bitts on official document)
Passenger on the flight
Lieutenant Colonel
Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Parent Unit: Royal Artillery
Service Number: 132903
Born January 11, 1910, Ivor Watkins Birts was the son of William Thomas
Watkins Birts (1883–1942) and Lilian Grace (Stephens) Birts and the husband of
Marie Josephine Birts (nee Bain), of Westminster, London. He took a B.A. at
Merton College, Oxford and qualified as a Barrister, but later practiced as a
stockbroker.
He married Josephine Bain in 1934 and had two children, Carol and Douglas. On
the outbreak of war he joined the Royal Artillery, serving at Larkhill, Salisbury
Plain and South Eastern Command, Home Forces. He was promoted to Captain in
1941 and Major in 1942.
He was posted to General Head Quarters in Cairo with MO4, the Middle East and
Balkans branch of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and subsequently in
Eritrea. In November 1943 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel as GSO 1
(General Staff Officer Rank 1) and served with Force 133, a subsidiary SOE
headquarters in Bari, Southern Italy under Cairo in Egypt, set up to control
operations in the Balkans and Northern Italy and support the Greek and Yugslav
resistance movements. He was en-route to Yugoslavia.
Age:
34
Cemetery:
Newquay (Fairpark) Cemetery, Cornwall, UK
Grave Reference: C. of E. plot. Cons. Grave 685.
Sources:
findagrave.com
cwgc.org
Special Forces Roll Of Honour
Arthur Douglas Gavel
Duty on Flight: Captain
Royal Canadian Air Force
Flying Officer
Service No: J/23107
525 Royal Air Force Squadron
RCAF Flying Officer, Arthur Douglas Gavel, was from Swift Current, Saskatchewan,
in Canada. Arthur was born on February 12, 1921. His parents were George
William Gavel and Vera Bell (Campbell) Gavel. In April of 1944, as he climbed into
the cockpit of his Vickers Warwick I (BV247) he was 23 years old. He had been
assigned to RAF 525 Squadron based at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire UK since
February 1944.
Following the crash the bodies of the crew and passengers were recovered, but the
remains Arthur Douglas Gavel were not identified and he was initially buried in a
grave in the Fairpark Cemetery. The headstone, as was the custom for unidentified
bodies recovered from the sea, read:
A Sailor of the Second World War
Merchant Navy
24 April 1944
Known Unto God
Derek Fowkes became interested in the crash when he was examining wartime
records.
Chief Inspector Fowkes, because of the location where the unidentified body was
located began to think it could be that of the pilot of the downed Vickers Warwick I
(BV247). In 1984, forty years after the crash, Derek Fowkes in collaboration with
Murray W. Gavel, a Saskatchewan wheat farmer, and the brother of Arthur Gavel,
were able to finally identify the body of Arthur Gavel.
Two RAF Officers, Group Captain Tony Balfour of the RAF’s Institute of Pathology
and Tropical Medicine and Group Captain David Chapman-Andrews, a consultant in
oral surgery confirmed the unknown sailor’s grave was that of pilot, Arthur Douglas
Gavel.
In 1988, Flying Officer Arthur Douglas Gavel was re-interred in Plot 687 with full
military honours, including a Royal Air Force honour guard. A new headstone was
placed on his grave.
Arthur Gavel had family connections in the Tusket and Richfield areas of Yarmouth
County, Nova Scotia
Age: 23
Cemetery: Newquay (Fairpark) Cemetery, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Grave Reference: 687
Memorial: Listed on Runnymede Memorial (Part V)
Sources:
Remembrance Page - Arthur Douglas Gavel
The Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Library and Archives Canada
Research by Derek Fowkes
Michael Kingston Rowe
Duty on Flight: 2nd Pilot
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Flight Sergeant (Pilot)
Service No: 1383712
525 Royal Air Force Squadron
Michael Kingston Rowe was the son of Walter Stanley and Dorothy
Florence Rowe, of Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey.
Flight Sergeant Rowe, although not an acknowledged regular crewman, he had
flown previously with Arthur Gavel. Flight Sergeant Rowe was missing on the
morning of the crash; however, his body was recovered from the sea off
Watergate on the May 8, within the general area of the crash.
Age: 22
Cemetery: Newquay (Fairpark) Cemetery
Sources:
findagrave.com
Albert George Tracey Gardiner
Duty on Flight: Navigator
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Flying Officer (Navigator)
Service No: 134548
525 Royal Air Force Squadron
Born in June 1917 in Dorking, Surrey, England, Albert George Tracey Gardiner was
the son of William T. Gardiner (1889-1951) and Ruth Mary Greenaway (1889-1951)
and brother to Rosemary Muriel Gardiner (1918-2001) and Evelyn B. Gardiner
(1920-1999).
Age: 27
Cemetery: St James Churchyard, Abinger, Surrey, England
Grave Reference: 315
Sources:
findagrave.com
Harold Calven Austen
Duty on Flight: Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Flying Officer
Royal Canadian Air Force
Service No: 134548
525 Royal Air Force Squadron
Born on August 15, 1918 in Oyen, Alberta, Flying Officer Austen was the son of
Henry John Austen (1892–1956) and Mary Alice (Gibson) Austen (1886–1922) of
Oyen, Alberta, Canada. At the age of 22, he enlisted on May 21, 1941 in
Edmonton, Alberta. Prior to his enlistment he was employed as a mechanic.
Age: 25
Cemetery: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, England
Grave Reference: 48. H. 1.
Commemorated on Page 240 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance
Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on May 21
Sources:
The Canadian Virtual War Memorial
findagrave.com
George Lionel Seymour Dawson-Damer, Viscount Carlow
Passenger on the flight
Air Commodore
Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Parent Unit: Royal Air Force (Auxiliary Air Force)
600 Squadron RAF
Service No. 90078
Born December 20, 1907, George Lionel Seymour Dawson-Damer, Viscount Carlow
was the son of Lionel Arthur Henry Seymour Dawson-Damer, 6th Earl of
Portarlington and of the Countess Portarlington (nee Winnifreda Yuill), of
Westminster, London, and husband of Viscountess Carlow (nee Peggy Cambie) of
Dunsfold, Surrey. He married on January 7, 1937.
Various records indicate that RAF Air Commodore George Lionel Seymour Dawson-
Damer, Viscount Carlow was attached to MI9 and was en-route to meet with Tito in
Yugoslavia.
Age: 36
Cemetery: Golders Green Crematorium, London Borough of Barnet, Greater
London, England
Reference: Panel 1
Sources:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
findagrave.com
Unearthing Churchill's Secret Army (p.256)
Noel Spencer Nicklin
Passenger on the flight
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Flying Officer
Service No: 145574
525 Squadron Royal Air Force
Born on December 19, 1909, Flying Officer Nicklin was the son of Frederick
William (1869–1919) and Selina (Spenser) Nicklin (a866-1953), of Waterloo,
Liverpool, UK ; husband of Norah (Mossman) Nicklin (1914-2001), of Waterloo,
Liverpool, UK.
He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, and joined the staff of
Westminster Bank at its Liverpool Waterloo branch in December 1926. Over the
next 15 years he spent time working in the bank's branches at Seaforth, Blackburn,
Aigburth, Warrington and Lymm. Outside work he was a keen amateur magician.
In 1941 Noel Nicklin left Lymm branch and enlisted in the Royal Air Force
Volunteer Reserve attaining the rank of Flying Officer. In addition to his
conventional duties, he used his magic skills to entertain at military hospitals
and camps and organised concert parties for troops.
He was en route to
India and a passenger
on the flight.
Commemorated on the War Memorial, Westminster Bank,
NatWest Stockton Heath branch
Age: 34
Cemetery: Great Crosby (St. Luke) Churchyard, Lancashire, UK
Reference: Section C, Grave 627
Sources:
findagrave.com
Westminister Bank Memorial
George William Lamb
Passenger on the flight
Pilot Officer
Service No: 53922
525 Squadron Royal Air Force
Born August 9, 1916, Pilot Officer Lamb was the son of William Saunders Lamb (d.
1941) and Jeannie Noble (Byth) Lamb (1896-1970) of Hull and husband of Doreen
Alice (Wilson) Lamb (1916-2009), of Hull.
Age: 27
Cemetery: Hull Crematorium
Reference: Screen Wall, Panel 3
Sources:
findagrave.com
Thomas Percival Ward
Passenger on the flight
Major
Service No: 100464
Royal Army Medical Corps
Born in 1908, Thomas Percival Ward was the son of Thomas Ward (1872-1949) and
Alice Josephine Ward (1888-1970) and husband of Dorice Bentley (Gunn) Ward
(1909-1996). He was educated at Cambridge and St. Thomas College. He obtained
degrees: M.A., M.B., B.Ch. (Cantab.). L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S.
He was married on December 10, 1931.
During World War II he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Commemorated at the St. Thomas Hospital
Kings College (London)'s War Memorial.
Age: 35
Cemetery: Brookwood Military Cemetery
Grave Reference: 33A. A. 3.
Sources:
findagrave.com
kingscollections.org
www.cwgc.org
William Godfrey Tilley
On the Flight: Passenger
Squadron Leader
Service No: 45766
525 RAF Squadron
Award: Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Born in Colerne, Wiltshire, England, February 27, 1910 the son of William Tilley
(1872-1952) and Emma Selina (Holder) Tilley (1884-1966). He was the brother of
Jocelyn Richard James Tilley (1921-2002) and Joyce Marguerite Tilley (1912-
1918).
From May 22, 1941 to July 18, 1943, he was with 31 OTU (Operational Training
Unit) at Debert, Nova Scotia first with the rank of Flight Lieutenant, and later as
Squadron Leader. During the period he was serving in Canada, he was awarded
the MBE(M) (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) on
September 23, 1941.
Age: 34
Cemetery: St John the Baptist Churchyard,
Colerne, Wiltshire Unitary Authority, Wiltshire, England
Grave Reference: 126
Sources:
findagrave.com