Poix, France. April 1980. Graves in the churchyard of the Church of St Denis which include ...

Poix, France. April 1980. Graves in the churchyard of the Church of St Denis which include members of the crew of 415242 Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Noel Stirling Eliot RAAF, pilot. Four members of the crew of his No. 218 Squadron Stirling bomber died when the aircraft crashed on 1 May 1944 while on a bombing raid over the Chambly railway marshalling yards, north of Paris. Those killed were Jack Hassett RAF, navigator of England; Ted Hawkins RAF, flight engineer of England; Paddy Clayton RAF, wireless operator of Ireland and Johnny Grantham RAF, rear gunner of Sussex, England. Flt Lt Eliot was one of four survivors, including Charles 'Jock' Weir, mid upper gunner of Scotland, 429068 Flying Officer Kevin John O'Neil (Jack) Lynch RAAF, bomb aimer, a schoolteacher from NSW before enlistment and Sergeant Wilson who had been on the flight for operational expereince. The Germans buried the remains of the crew near the crash site but the bodies were reburied at Poix after villagers had begun to put flowers at the crash site. Flt Lt Eliot escaped from the aircraft by parachute and was picked up by members of the French Underground, surviving via the Comet (Comete) escape route, ending up in camps with 152 airmen, along with Jack Lynch and seven other Australians, in the Forest of Freteval until liberation. (Donor N. Eliot)