V.C.'S LAST FLIGHT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21854, 26 October 1945, Page 3

V.C.'S LAST FLIGHT

SERGEANT WARD

VICTIM OF FIGHTER

ATTACK ON HAMBURG

(Special Correspondent.l (10 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 25.

It wa» a German night fighter that caused the death of Sergeant J. A. Ward, V.C., oi Wanganui, on the night of September 15, 1941. This fact has been verified by Sergeant Ward’s Canadian ’observer, Fiight-Lieutenant L E. Peterson, who escaped by parachute, was taken prisoner, and has now returned to Canada.

After Sergeant Ward went missing, nothing more was heard of him or his crew lor some months. Then it was reported that he was buried at Hamburg, but no other details were available. This is what happened. Caught by Searchlights With h:s crew, ail Englishmen except for himself and a Canadian, he took off to bomb Hamburg trotn No. 75 Squadron's old station at Feltwell, in Suffolk. "When we came in over the target at Hamburg, our flash bomb was not ready,” sa.d Flight-Lieutenant Peterson. “We took a circle past Hamburg and bombed on the way home. Just as the bombs were released, we got caught xn the searchlights. There was no •flak' so we knew there were nightfighters. About 15 to 20 miles out Horn Bamourg, a night-fighter attacked. One of the crew, Sergeant Gordon Sloman H.A.F., wlio was the second pilot, saw the fighter, which came in .rom the starboard side and attacked ,rom the port witn cannon and machine-guns. The aircraft was immediately a mass of flames and Sergeant Ward was hit but how badly I do not know, Hit Ground In Flames "I also got ni.t m the le,.t hip and opened the door for the front gunner. He and I baled out with our parachutes While I was coming down, I saw the aircraft go down and hit the ground in flames. The Germans claim .hat there were four bodies in the aircraft.” This account was given by FlightLieutenant Peterson to Royal Canadian Air Force officials who Kindly traced him in the Dominion. They had endeavoured to find him in England tor me after he returned from Germany, but they were unable to locate him before he sailed, ft has also not been possible thus tar to locate Sergeant Ward’s front gunner in England, either through the Air Ministry or at his former address. “Jimmy,” as the first member of the R.N.Z.A.F. ever to win the Victoria Cross, was known to the squadron, was immensely popular, and it is felt that his old ‘comrades would appreciate knowing these sad details.