James Henry Smith                        Updated: 26 OCT 2022

Airman: a003003.htm Surname: Smith Init: J H Rank: Sgt Service: RCAF Sqdn: 420

P_link: p065.htm Plane: HAM P5330 Operation: Bomb G Crash_site: Sønderby Bjerge.

Crash_d: d250442 Buried_d: b280442 C_link: c003.htm At_Next: Assens

 ”Under et bombetogt til Rostock nedstyrtede et Hampden fly ved Sønderby Bjerge den 25. April 1942. (See p065MACR)

Tre omkomne besætningsmedlemmer,  J.M. Hicks, J. Potter og J.H. Smith, blev den 27. april fulgt
fra sygehuset til kapellet på kirkegården af omkring 500 Assensborgere. Begravelsen fandt sted om formiddagen den følgende dag. For den tyske kommandant mødte kaptajn Gielcke, ligesom et tysk æreskompagni havde givet møde. På hver af de 3 kister lå et engelsk flag, og der var kranse med signerede bånd fra den tyske værnemagt. Den tyske feltpræst Johannes Vorrath, København, forrettede begravelsen. Et overlevende besætningsmedlem blev taget til fange.” (FAF)

Flight Sergeant (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner) James Henry Smith, 20 år, var søn af James Clark Smith og Nora Margaret Smith (f. MacWilliam); nevø til og fostersøn af Helen A. MacWilliam, Westmount, Province of Quebec, Canada. (Kilde: CWGC)

Se øjenvidneskildring og Omkring Hampden P5530. Se monument for de 3 dræbte flyvere fra HAM P5330 rejst her ved Højtidelig mindestensafsløring i Sønderby. Se også
brev fra Doreen og Frank Adams til Valdemar og Anne Hansen, og Johannes V. Hansen.
4 flyvere.

“During a bombing raid to Rostock a Hampden plane crashed at Sønderby Bjerge on 25 April, 1942.  (See p065MACR)

On 27 April three of the deceased members of the crew, J.M. Hicks, J. Potter and J.H. Smith, were  accompanied from the hospital to the chapel of rest in the cemetery by about 500 citizens of
Assens. The burial was next day before noon. Captain Mielcke met for the German commander
and a German company was present as a guard of honour. A Union Jack covered each of the 3 coffins, and there were wreaths with inscriptions on ribbons from the German Wehrmacht. The German army chaplain Johannes Vorrath, Copenhagen, officiated at the graveside ceremony.

A surviving member of the crew was taken prisoner.” (FAF) See monument to the 3 killed airmen from HAM P5330 erected here and an eye witness account
and Around Hampden P5530.

Flight Sergeant (Wireless Operator / Air Gunner) James Henry Smith, 20, was the son of James Clark Smith and of Nora Margaret Smith (née MacWilliam), and
the nephew and foster-son of Helen A. MacWilliam, of Westmount, Province of Quebec, Canada. (Source: CWGC)
God has you in his keeping   we have you in our hearts. His  name is engraved on the Memorial Wall at the BC Museum of Canada.
The Canadian Virtual War Memorial has this. He is remembered on The Walls of Names at the International Bomber Command Centre, Phase 1, Panel 99. 

See also the Handley Page Hampden at The Canadian Museum of Flight and No. 420 Squadron RCAF and RCAF 420 Snowy Owl Squadron.
Hampden I P5330 PT-J took off from RAF Waddington on 24 APR 1942. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.) 4 airmen.