Name: Sigurd Gerhard Jenssen Rank: Flight Sergeant Service Number: Unknown Service: 129 RAF Squadron, Royal Norwegian Air Force Date of Birth: May 15, 1918 Place of Birth: Kristiansand, Norway Date of Enlistment: Unknown Place of Enlistment: Toronto, Canada (unconfirmed) Age at Enlistment: 19-20 (unconfirmed) Address at Enlistment: Saint John, New Brunswick Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jenssen (Parents) Date of Death: August 19, 1942 Age: 24 Cemetery: Initially, Greenwich Cemetery, London, England, on August 24, 1942 In 1947, ashes were sent to Pictou, Pictou County, Nova Scotia Sigurd is not currently commemorated in the Second World War Book of Remembrance Sigurd Gerhard Jenssen was the son of Thomas Gerhard Jenssen (1888-1967) and Sigrid Christine (Strueber) Jenssen (1889-1982), and the brother of Hjordis Victoria Refsahl-Jenssen (1910-1999), Evelyn Sofia Jenssen (1914-1995), Anna Jensen (1916-1916), Ruth Alice (Jenssen) Hinton (1921-2004), and Irgens Vincent Jenssen (1922-2004). The family’s surname is also recorded as Jenssen. For a time the family, lived in Pictou in Pictou County, Nova Scotia in the 1940’s. At that time is father was working in the shipping industry. The four younger children immigrated to Canada in 1927, arriving in Halifax aboard the SS Bergensfjord from Oslo, Norway, on November 23, 1927. In 1931, the family lived in Dalhousie, Restigouche County, New Brunswick, and later in Saint John, New Brunswick. Sigurd received his early education in Saint John. Sigurd’s brother Irgens enlisted in the Royal Canadian Regiment and served Canada in the Second World War and the Korean War. The family was living in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1942, and previously in Quebec. In 1947, the family was living in Pictou NS. Sigurd’s sister Ruth was married in Pictou on September 2, 1944. Later, Sigurd’s parents returned to Québec. Both of Sigurd’s parents were buried in the Hawthorn-Dale Cemetery, Montréal, Québec. Little Norway was a World War II training camp and base for the Royal Norwegian Air Force in southern Ontario, Canada. The Toronto Island Base (1940–1942), opened on November 10, 1940, at the Toronto Island Airport (now Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport), and the camp served as the main training hub for expatriate Norwegian airmen. Sigurd enlisted with the Royal Norwegian Air Force during the Second World War and by August of 1942 he was serving with 129 (Mysore) Squadron, Royal Air Force and was stationed at RAF Thorney Island in West Sussex UK. On August 18, 1942, he took part in a sweep of Cherbourg, France. His Spitfire R7195 was hit but despite the damage with most of one aileron shot off he managed to return to his unit. To quote the Operations Record Book Sgt. Jenssen “made a brilliant landing in spite of this.” The next day August 19, 1942, he participated in a sortie as part of Operation Jubilee, the Raid at Dieppe, France. 129 Squadron conducted four sorties that day, the first involving only two aircraft which attacked a lighthouse which was being used as an observation post for the defending gun positions. The second sortie was conducted by 12 aircraft, with the objective of destroying gun position “Hess” to the West of Dieppe which was causing major problems on the invasion beach. The guns were successfully silenced. Sgt. Jensen did not take part in the second sortie. He did however take part in the third sortie. This was probably not in his own aircraft, With the previous day’s damage to his aircraft, considered unrepairable, he was flying one of two planes borrowed from 130 Squadron. The objective of the third sortie was to provide cover for the “Cannon” Hurricane ground attack aircraft of 43 Squadron while they attacked gun position “Bismarck” on the Eastern headland at Dieppe. That Operation was successful and all the Hurricanes were safely escorted back. Sgt. Jenssen also took part in the fourth sortie which was to provide air cover for a flotilla of A.L.B. (Assault Landing Boats) returning from Dieppe. The weather had closed down by the time they were due to land, and the cloud base was down to 500 ft or less. Pilots from the squadron landed wherever they could at various local bases including Tangmere, Ford, and Westhampnett, as well as their home base Thorney. Sergeant Jenssen was unsuccessful in returning to a base and crashed in Stansted Forest near Rowneys Castle, Hampshire, 4 to 5 miles North of Thorney Island. He requested directional guidance at 4:10 PM but was he was flying too low for his request to be picked up by control. A neighboring base or remote Direction Finding station with overlapping coverage and better line-of-sight would still intercept and log the transmission even when low altitude or local terrain blocked the home station. The Canadian Army’s Canadian Battle Training School was located in the Rowneys Castle and and the camp area, known as the Sling, was in the surrounding forest. Army personnel from the camp were therefore nearby, and were first on the scene. They recovered Sgt Jenssen’s body and effects from the site. The Training School’s unit war diary recorded: “At approx.. 1630 hrs a single seater fighter plane crashed in Stansted Forest map ref. Sheet 132 1” to 1mile 178308. It appeared that the pilot was attempting a crash landing, as he landed in a narrow avenue bordered on either side by dense forest. The plane was a complete wreck and the pilot was killed instantly. The local police and C.T.S were notified and a guard placed on the site of the accident.” Sergeant Jenssen was originally interred on August 24, 1942, at the Greenwich Cemetery in London. In 1946 his remains were disinterred and cremated on October 22nd, in Southwark, London, and his ashes were sent to Norway. Sigurd’s ashes were then sent to 26 Union Street, Box 84, Pictou in 1947, where his parents were believed to be residing at the time. It is unknown whether Flight Sergeant Sigurd Gerhard Jenssen’s ashes were buried in Pictou County, NS. Flight Sergeant Sigurd Gerhard Jensen is commemorated on the Kristiansand Memorial located on Setesdalsveien in Kristiansand, Norway and is remembered on a memorial at Stanstead Forest near the crash site in Rowland's Castle, in England. The Wartime Heritage Association continues to research the circumstances of his burial of his ashes.

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Sources: Daily Gleaner newspaper, Monday, September 14, 1942, Page 3 aircrewremembered rowlandscastleheritagecentre.org.uk Flight Sergeant Sigurd Gerhardt Jenssen Memorial, Stansted Forest