Remembering World War II

Name: Josef Vanis Rank: Sergeant Service Number: 654754 Service: 311 (Czechoslovak) Bomber Squadron, Coastal Command, Royal Air Force Awards: Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 Date of Birth: June 27, 1921 Place of Birth: Liptovska Telpa, Ružomberok, Czechoslovakia Date of Enlistment: 1941 Joined RAF August 11, 1942 Address at Enlistment: New Waterford, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Marital Status: Married Occupation: Mechanic Date of Death: April 10, 1945 Age: 23 Cemetery: St Duthus Old Cemetery, Tain, Highland, Scotland Grave: Section F, Grave 72 Joseph Vanis was born in Liptovska Telpa, in the municipality in Ružomberok (District in the Žilina Region) of northern Slovakia in Czechoslovakia, the son of Joseph Vanis (1895-1961) and Mary (Falkin) Vanis (1886- 1942). He married Viola Teresa (Malik) Vanis on June 5, 1944, in Scotchtown, NS. Josef immigrated to Canada in 1934, departing from Antwerp, Belgium on the SS Westernland and arriving at Halifax, NS on July 21, 1934. He moved to Scotchtown in 1934. He attended high school in New Waterford, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. “He was stationed in New Glasgow, NS in September 1942 and by November 1942 he was in Moncton, NB where he was called home to his mother's funeral.” * Josef trained at the No. 1 Radio School at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, England, No. 8 Air Gunnery School in Evanton, in Ross-shire, Highland, Scotland from February 20th to April 4, 1944, and trained with the No. 111 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit (111 OTU) in Nassau, Bahamas from June 24th until October 14, 1944. After training, he was assigned to 311 (Czechoslovak) Bomber Squadron, based at RAF Tain, north of Inverness in Scotland where, as part of Coastal Command, they were involved in protecting allied shipping by destroying enemy submarines in the Atlantic and the North Sea. Their motto was ‘Na množství nehleďte’ or ‘Never regard their numbers’; a Hussite battle cry. On April 10, 1945, Consolidated Liberator aircraft EV955, with 9 Czechoslovak crew members, took off with 3 other aircraft of the Czechoslovak Section on an anti-U-Boat patrol. It was a very dark morning with poor visibility and 50% cloud cover. The heavy, fully loaded bomber was unable to reach the necessary altitude during take-off and struck the ground some 1500 yards beyond the end of the runway at 4:07 am and crashed among the sand dunes behind the beach. Of the 9 crew members, Flight Lieutenant Josef Simet, Flight Sergeant Arnost Hayek, Flight Sergeant Zdenek Palme, Flight Sergeant Otto Karel Kenedy, Sergeant Josef Vanis (who served as the Wireless Air Gunner), and Sergeant Rudolf Scholz were killed in the crash. Josef Simet, Arnost Hayek, Zdenek Palme and Josef Vanis are buried in St Duthus Old Cemetery in Tain, whilst Otto Karel Kenedy was cremated at Golders Green in London, England and his remains repatriated to Czechoslovakia. Josef was interred at St Duthus on April 13, 1945. Rudolf Scholz is interred at the St. John the Evangelist in Stoke Row, Oxfordshire, England. On June 20, 1945, Josef was posthumously awarded the Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 (Československý valečný kříž 1939). In 2017, Josef’s name, along with the names of some 2500 other Czechoslovak people who had served in the RAF during WWII, was unveiled at the Winged Lion Monument at Klárov, in Prague in the Czech Republic.

Josef Vanis

Sources: Cape Bretoners in World War II Commonwealth War Graves Commission Free Czechoslovaks Air Force Associates Tain Museum