DEVEREAUX, Frank Gerrard

NAME                    DEVEREAUX          Frank Gerrard
RANK                    Pilot Officer                          19592                                                                                                                              RAF Bomber Command - RCAF Group 6                                                                              SQUADRON         RCAF No. 427 “Lion”
                              “striking sure”
                              RAF Leeming Airfield in Yorkshire
                              Squadron Markings ZL P                                                                                                          Born                       March 25, 1922 - St. Columban - Township of Tuckersmith - County of Huron              Residence             Toronto - Ontario                                                                                                                    Died                       May 28, 1944          22 years   2 months
Cemetery               Baisy-thy-Communal Cemetery - Baisy-Thy - Brabant Walloon - Belgium
                              Southeast corner of cemetery
Parents                 Mr. John and Mary Devereaux - Seaforth
Brothers                Mr. Jim Devereaux - Goderich / Seaforth                                                                                                                    Leading Aircraftsman  Robert Devereaux - RCAF                                                              Sisters                   Miss Helen and Mary Devereaux - London

Frank was born on March 25, 1922 in St. Columban and raised in Tuckersmith Township. He attended St. James Catholic Church. He attended public School from 1929-36 and Seaforth Collegiate from 1936-39 leaving school at age of 16. He took a Pilots Observation correspondence course from WETP in Hamilton 1942. Growing up he had measles and the mumps. Before enlistment he lived in Toronto and worked as a metal pourer with Canada Metal on Fraser Avenue.

Canada

When the time right, he hitchhiked to Hamilton on March 21, 1942 so that he could enlist into the Royal
Canadian Air Force. He received the rank of Aircraftsman 2. When he enlisted he was 5' 9" tall and weighed 140 pounds. He was assigned to No. 1 Manning Depot in Toronto until May 24 when he was posted to No. 5 Service Flying Training Course in Brantford - Ontario. He stayed in Toronto and on July 5 was posted to No. 1 Initial Training School. He received the rank of Leading Aircraftsman while here. He was here until September 27 and posted to No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School in St. Catharines - Ontario. Then it was on to No. 16 Service Flying Training School in Hagersville on December 6.                                                                                        1943 began with him in Hagersville where he earned the rank of Sergeant and received his Pilot Badge and remained until he was posted to No. 1 "Y" Depot in Halifax in preparation for heading overseas on April 24.

Overseas

He remained here and on May 26 volunteered for the RAF Training Pool and embarked from Canada for overseas. He disembarked in the United Kingdom on June 4 and the following day reported to Bournemouth - Dorset to No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre. His first posting in the United Kingdom was between June 29-October 4 at RAF No. 20 Advanced Flying Unit. While here he obtained the rank of Flight Sergeant. While here he had an average of 65%. This was at RAF Kidlington - Oxfordshire. While here he spent time at No 1515 Beam approach Training from August 3-10 and achieved an average of 65%. His next stop was to No. 22 Operational Training Unit at RAF Wellesbourne Mountford - Warwickshire and on ground training received 83% and on flying training received 65%. While here he rose to the rank of Pilot Officer.                                                                    He was then sent to RAF Topcliffe - North Yorkshire for a short period which had grass runways to RCAF 61 Base on January 25, 1944. On February 2 he arrived at Heavy Conversion Unit 1659 based at RAF Leeming and RAF Topcliffe. His training was now complete and he was posted to RCAF No. 427 Squadron based at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire on March 13. 

In the Field                                                                                                                                                          

This mission was the 10th for Pilot Officer Devereaux.
From 427 Squadron there were 18 aircraft detailed for the mission. They were to bomb from 10,000 feet at
2:00 am. There was no cloud over the target, some haze with fair visibility. The target for this mission was  Bourge - Leopold in Belgium where the Germans had a large military camp.
Pilot Officer Devereaux was the pilot and his crew aboard Halifax LV 831 “P” lifted off at 11:31 pm on May 27th with 15 – 500 pound High Explosive bombs and on the way to the target there was a mid-air collision with a Halifax MZ 295 from 429 Squadron. Halifax LV 831 was reported as missing during this operation and the wreckage was located near Genappe in Belgium about 30 miles south of Brussels.
The citizens living near the crash site were hesitant to assist but a man who had the confidence of the Germans stated that when the Germans arrived at the crash site they found 11 bodies. Both aircraft crashed close together. Six of the bodies had been stripped of their identities by the Belgian SS before the Germans arrived. The 11 bodies were placed in coffins and marked "unknown" and then taken to a cemetery in Le Culot near Beauvebhain. Members of the crew were buried by the local townspeople and one family made crosses for these men from pieces of their aircraft and wore them around their necks during the German occupation. When the people of Belgium and of Gnappe were liberated they asked that the crosses they had been wearing be given to the family members of the crew.

In January of 1946 Mrs. Mary Devereaus received the Memorial Cross and in January of 1847 the family received the medals awarded to Pilot Officer Devereaux which included the 1939-45 Star, the Aircrew Europe Star, the Defence and War Medals along with the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with clasp. At some the family would have received his Operational Wings.

Frank is honoured and remembered on the Seaforth Cenotaph and on the Memorial plaques of Seaforth Collegiate and St James Catholic Church. He is also honoured and remembered in the Books of Remembrance which are located in the Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament and at the RCAF Bomber Command Memorial. He is honoured and remembered by the citizens near Genappe who adopted the graves and tended them an on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.