Former cadet of the Air Training Corps - 296th (Stoke Newington) Squadron. Died in WW2.
Sergeant Douglas Millward Pearson, aged 21, (Pilot) killed in bomber raid on Frankfurt-on-Mainz. 25th December 1943.
The above information is shown on a laminated plaque attached to one the 13 trees in Lavell Street, N.16. Unfortunately, both the laminated plaque and the bronze plaque attached to the wall in Lavell Street show the middle name of this airman incorrectly as Millward. In fact he was named after his maternal grandmother whose maiden name was Eliza Milward (1864-1952) and who came from a long line of Milward's. Also he did not die on 25 December 1943 but on 26 November 1943 on a mission to Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Douglas Milward Pearson was born on 3 April 1922 and his birth was registered in Wakefield, Yorkshire. He was the son of Harry White Pearson (1886-1955) and Eliza Elizabeth Pearson née Lynes (1888-1969). His father was a shunter. Electoral registers from 1927 show the family were residing at 26 Sanford Lane, Hackney and Post Office London Directories show that his father had now become a retail haberdasher. The 1939 England and Wales Register confirmed that the family still lived at 26 Sanford Lane and his occupation was recorded as a commercial clerk.
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 1394169 and gained the rank of Sergeant. He was attached to No.102 Squadron (Ceylon) and on 25 November 1943 at 23.39 hours he took off from RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire, in a Handley Page Halifax II aeroplane, Serial No.JD366, Code DY-V, to join 261 other aircraft on a mission to bomb Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Cloud cover led to scattered bombing with fewer than 100 bombs landing on the city causing 80 deaths on the ground and about 1,500 people bombed out of their homes. Twelve of the aircraft were lost, including the one piloted by Sergeant Pearson which crashed near Oestrich, Germany, in the early hours of 26 November 1943. He and the other 6 crew members died and were buried in the Oestrich Civil Cemetery, but after the war, on 24 October 1947, they were all exhumed and reburied in the Durnbach War Cemetery at Am Moos, 83703 Gmund am Tegernsee, Germany. His grave number is Plot 6, Row A, Grave 8.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan
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