Former cadet of the Air Training Corps - 296th (Stoke Newington) Squadron. Died in WW2.
Sergeant Leslie George Rowley, aged 19, (Rear Gunner) killed in operation over marshalling yard at Tergnier, France. Died 10 April 1944
The above information was obtained from a laminated plaque that was attached to one of the 13 trees in Lavell Street, London, N16. Unfortunately, the date of death is shown incorrectly. He died on 11 April 1944.
Leslie George Rowley was born on 31 July 1924 and his birth was registered in the Hackney registration district. He was the son of George Frederick Rowley (1886-1964) and Ellen Mary Rowley née Frewin (1887-1966). His father was a fish market cashier. Electoral registers from 1924 to 1934 show the family living at 15 Lordship Road, London, N16 and from 1935 onwards at 29 Yoakleys Buildings, Park Street, London, N16. (Park Street was later renamed to Yoakley Road). Whilst his parents and elder sister, Enid Marjorie Rowley (1918-2006), were shown on the 1939 England and Wales Register at 29 Yoakley Road, Stoke Newington, he was registered as a schoolboy at Street Aston Farm, Rugby, Warwickshire.
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 1890653, gaining the rank of Sergeant and was attached to No.10 Squadron. On 26 February 1944 he was posted to No.158 Squadron and on 10 April 1944 he was an Air Gunner in a Handley Page Halifax B111 aeroplane, Serial No.MZ533, Code NP-G, that took off at 20.41 hours from RAF Lissett in Yorkshire as one of the 167 aircraft that flew on a mission to attack the rail facilities at Tergnier, Aisne, France. Ten of the Halifax bombers failed to return and his was shot down by a night fighter, crashing between the hamlets of Rosieres-en-Santerre and Caix, Somme, France in the early hours of 11 April 1944. All seven crew members of his aircraft were buried in Collective Grave 31 in the British Plot of Meharicourt Communal Cemetery, Rue de Rosieres, Meharicourt, Somme, France.
He is also commemorated with his name being recorded amongst those of the 851 men of No.158 Squadron who died and are engraved on the memorial erected in 2009 at the site of the airfield in Lissett, Yorkshire.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan
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