Date: 24/25th August 1942
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (Pathfinder)
Type: Halifax II
Serial: W7765
Coded: TL-T
Location: Marne
Pilot: P/O. Frank (Freddie) Edward Gardiner 126870 R.A.F.V.R. Age; 18, Killed
Co/pilot: Sgt. F.E.A. Makin R.A.F.V.R P.O.W. (Interned in camps: L3/L6/L1. P.O.W.No; 694. Initially evaded capture but caught 3rd Sept 1942)
Obs: P/O. R.J. Teillet R.C.A.F. P.O.W. (Interned in camp: L3. POW No; 696. Initially evaded capture but caught on 6th September 1942)
W/Op: Sgt. F.W. Graham R.A.F.V.R. P.O.W. (Interned in camps: 8B/8A/9A. POW No; 28806.)
W/Op/Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. William Patrick Ryan 904055 R.A.F.V.R. Age; 24, Killed
Air/Gnr: Fl/Sgt. P.M. Nerland R.C.A.F. P.O.W. (Interned in camps: L6/L4. POW No; 694)
Air/Gnr: Sgt. E.L. Whillock R.A.F.V.R. P.O.W. (Interned in camps: L3/L6/357. POW No; 1044)
REASON FOR LOSS:
Took off at 20.42 hrs from Graveley, Cambridgeshire. This aircraft was part of the newly formed pathfinder force which resulted in many accurate attacks by other bombers. Part of an attack involving 226 aircraft. 16 failed to return this night. Weather was excellent, no cloud and a full moon which must have contributed to the German night fighter success. W7765 was shot down at a height of around 12,000 ft by Fw. Heinrich Macke of 7./NJG4 the aircraft crashed at 02.00 hrs on St. Hilaire-au-Temple, Marne, France. The bullet strikes hit the port inner engine and the fire spread into the mainframe of the aircraft.
Freddie Gardiner joined the R.A.F. at 16 (It is thought that he lied about his age) started flying Whitley bombers completing many missions over Germany whilst still only 17!
An extract from BBC WW2 People's War, by a relative Val, told a more personal side of Freddie's service:
"Frank Edward Gardiner (known to his fellow crewmen as Freddie Gardiner) was born in Piddington, Northampton on 18th August 1924. At the age of sixteen he joined the RAF - family legend has it that he lied about his age. He trained to be a pilot in Bomber Command, and flew in Whitley Bombers, first as Second Pilot and later as First Pilot. He completed many missions over Germany while still only seventeen. On May 30/31st 1942 he took part in the Thousand Bomber Raid, and was congratulated for this by the Duke of Kent.
In June 1942 he was commissioned and became Captain of a Halifax Bomber. He was selected for the newly-formed Pathfinder Force, and celebrated his eighteenth birthday in August 1942 by taking part in the first Pathfinder operation. A week later, on the 25th August 1942, he flew in the second Pathfinder operation to Frankfurt. On the return journey over France his plane, call sign “T for Tommy”, was attacked by German fighter planes and fires started on the badly damaged aircraft. Frank continued to pilot the plane as five crew members bailed out. The last one to leave had the impression that Frank was then going to go back and see if he could help the injured crew member, Flight Sergeant Ryan.
Pilot of W7765 P/O. Frank (Freddie) Edward Gardiner shown below.
After the plane was reported missing in action, the families of the crew members were given each others’ contact addresses while waiting for news. (The friendships forged in those dark days lasted for many years after the war.) One by one five families got the news that their relative had been captured, and was a prisoner-of-war. But there was no news of Frank and Flight Sergeant Ryan, until one family received a letter from one of the crew telling them of the fate of the aircraft, and passed on the news which put an end to the hopes of Frank’s family. The crewman had been visited in the POW camp by the German pilot who had shot down the plane, and he had been given Frank’s cigarette case, which had been taken from his body. It was twisted and blackened, showing all too clearly the horror of the plane’s last few moments. Letters visible on its surface seem to have come from the plane’s controls, showing that Frank was at the controls at the last — perhaps finding that he could do nothing for Flight Sergeant Ryan, and too late to bail out, he decided to pilot the plane away from civilians on the ground, or maybe he attempted to land. The plane had crashed just outside a small town in France. Frank and Sergeant Ryan were first interred near St Dizier, and then at the Air Force war cemetery at Choley, France.
After the war the cigarette case found its way into the hands of Frank’s cousin, Joan Old, (my mother), who had been corresponding with the other families. It was never shown to Frank’s mother, Mary Gardiner, who survived her only child by about 40 years. In 1946 two of the ex-POW’s visited her, and told her that they owed their lives to the bravery of her son, who gave his life for his friends and his country. She was a cheerful, warm-hearted lady, always smiling, always helping others, never showing her grief. But when she died she had asked to be buried with all her mementoes of Frank inside her coffin, so only the cigarette case survives to bear witness to Frank’s story.
After about 50 years my mother finally decided to travel to France to visit Frank’s grave, in company with another cousin. She felt a great sense of peace to find Frank there, amongst so many of his fellow servicemen, in the beautifully tended cemetery. She had kept in touch with some of the crewmen, who lived long lives after the war, but Frank will always be just eighteen."
Burial Details:
Frank Edward Gardiner Choloy War Cemetery. 2A.C.11.
Son of George Gardiner, and of Mary J. E. Gardiner, of Wootton, Northamptonshire.
William Patrick Ryan Choloy War Cemetery. 2A.C.12.
Son of Thomas Francis and Bridgid Mary Ryan.
