On January 8, 1945, the Harris Crew was assigned to 550 Squadron at North Killingholme, England.聽聽
For the Canadian and British crew -- including David Yemen, the navigator who was born in February 1915 in Theodore, SK. -- this move would signify the start of active service with RAF鈥檚 Bomber Command.聽聽
Though the Harris Crew鈥檚 tour would be a brief one, the crew would participate in some of the most controversial raids of World War II and go to battle against Germany鈥檚 top night fighter.聽聽
Yemen and his crewmates would participate in six dangerous operations before the crew's seventh and final operation on a raid to Dessau on March 7, 1945 when they were shot down by a German night fighter.聽Two crew members were found in the wreckage, four, including David Yemen parachuted to safety and became POWs.聽The remains of Robert Harris, the pilot, were never found.聽
This past March marked the 75th anniversary of the crash.聽
Weaving together letters written home by Flying Officer Robert Harris and first-hand accounts written by Sergeant Douglas Hicks along with Squadron records and historical archives, Canadian author Allyson Newburg created a riveting snapshot of the remarkable Harris Crew and their short but harrowing time with 550 Squadron.聽
Newburg said an interest in the war and a family writer inspired her to write the book, her first.聽
鈥淚 have been interested in World War II for many years, inspired by stories written by my great-uncle Douglas Hicks,鈥� she told Yorkton This Week. 鈥淲e are fortunate to have one of only two remaining airworthy Lancasters nearby (鈥榁era鈥� from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum) and she is a frequent sight in the summer in the skies of Toronto.聽After making several visits to see 鈥榁era鈥� at the museum and telling stories about some of Doug鈥檚 experiences as a Lancaster rear-gunner, my now 11-year-old son peppered me with questions about his great, great-uncle Doug鈥檚 experiences in the war.聽聽
鈥淎fter telling my son 鈥業 don鈥檛 know鈥� too many times, I set out to find out more.聽聽聽
鈥淢y initial goal with this project was simply to create a chronological timeline of my great-uncle鈥檚 service in World War II just for my immediate family.聽聽
鈥淎s my research continued, my 鈥榩roject鈥� morphed into a profile of the entire crew, growing from ten pages to a hundred to many, many more.鈥澛�
Of course local interest is of airman Yemen.聽
RCAF Flight Sergeant David Johnston Yemen, the crew鈥檚 29-year-old navigator, was born February 12, 1915 in Theodore, Saskatchewan. After enlisting, Yemen completed his training in Regina, Virden and Winnipeg before receiving his Air Navigator鈥檚 badge and heading overseas. 聽聽
Yemen鈥檚 first posting in August 1944 was to the #83 Operational Training Unit at RAF Peplow, positioned midway between Liverpool and Birmingham, England, explained Newburg. At Peplow, Yemen crewed up with fellow聽Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) airmen Sergeant Tom Ditson (mid-upper air gunner), Flying Officer Robert Harris (pilot), Sergeant Douglas Hicks (rear air gunner) and Flying Officer Gordon Nicol (bomber aimer).聽The five would be joined by Royal Air Force (RAF) Sergeant Gerard Kelleher (wireless operator).聽In October 1944, the crew of Harris, Ditson, Hicks, Kelleher, Nicol and Yemen was moved to 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit at 71 Base, RAF Blyton where they were finally united with engineer Kenneth Smith.聽The crew was now complete.聽
On January 8, 1945, the Harris Crew was assigned to 550 Squadron.聽聽聽
Newburg, who resides in Toronto, notes, at the end of the month, Robert Harris wrote to his wife that he and his crew were experiencing 鈥渙ne of the coldest snaps known for years, and fellows are having to melt snow for washing because all the plumbing is frozen up.鈥澛犅�
In the same letter, Harris referred to David Yemen and his fianc茅e, Mary Burton: 鈥淩omance has blossomed in our crew. Dave Yemen was smitten a couple of months ago, and is planning to get married in March. His lady love is a schoolteacher (!) in a town not far from here, and from her picture I would say she is a very nice girl. Poor Dave hasn鈥檛 seen her since we came here, and he is trying hard today to get a 48 [hour leave] while I am laid up.鈥澛犅犅�
Due to cold, snowy weather, the Harris Crew would not experience their first live operation until February 13, 1945.聽Rear air gunner Douglas Hicks would later write: 鈥淲e return home safely with no incidents to report鈥� We land at our home base without incident. This trip lasted for ten hours and five minutes. We have lost our virginity and still there is no jubilation. It seems we did what we were trained to do and that triumphant cries of jubilation will wait for another time. Ata debriefing we tell of the horrendous fires that were evident over the target and we wonder aloud if anyone on the ground survived that holocaust.鈥澛�
鈥淭he crew would fly five more live operations before being shot down over Germany on March 7, 1945 on their seventh operation,鈥� said Newburg.聽鈥淭he bodies of engineer Kenneth Smith and Eric Raymond Robinson (filling in for Tom Ditson in the role of mid-upper air gunner) were found in the wreckage.聽The remains of Flying Officer Robert Harris were never found.鈥澛�
For the four surviving crew members, their story was not over.聽聽聽
鈥淎fter parachuting to the ground, the four were rounded up as prisoners of war,鈥� said Newburg.聽聽聽
Douglas Hicks would become the youngest member of the 鈥楪uinea Pig Club,鈥� the group of airmen who were treated for burns at the Queen Victoria Hospital.聽
David Yemen and fianc茅e Mary Burton鈥檚 March wedding plans would have to wait.聽聽聽
鈥淢arch would come and go with Yemen first at Dulag Luft then Stalag XIIID and finally at Stalag XIIA where he would spend the last weeks of the war with Kelleher,鈥� said Newburg.聽聽
At war鈥檚 end, David and his fianc茅 quickly got to work on their wedding plans, and the two were married (with Douglas Hicks as Best Man) on May 21, 1945.聽
Yemen returned to Canada via the French ocean liner S.S. Ile de France, docking at Pier 21 in Halifax on July 14, 1945. Back in Mansfield, England, Mary was still awaiting approval of her settlement arrangements, explained Newburg.聽聽
鈥淎 pregnant Mary would finally arrive in Canada in January 1946 via ship to Halifax and onwards to Saskatchewan by train where she and David would settle in Yorkton,鈥� she said.聽聽
Their first child, Fran was born April 10, 1946 and the couple would go on to have five more: Dorothy, Linda, Peter, Bill, and Joe.聽
David Yemen passed away on May 30, 1986 in Yorkton at the age of 71.聽
But there is more to the Newburg book than Yemen鈥檚 tale.聽
鈥淓very member of Bomber Command was a volunteer and the Canadian members of the crew, including David Yemen, left their families behind to serve alongside the Royal Air Force,鈥� she said.聽鈥淭he Harris Crew went through trial by fire in a very real sense鈥� their very first live operation was to Dresden.聽聽聽
鈥淭he crew flew a famous Lancaster, had a connection to Germany鈥檚 top night fighter and the possibility exists that the pilot may have been a victim of a war crime.聽聽
鈥淎fter spending many hundreds of hours on this project, it became obvious the story of The Harris Crew was a fascinating one which would be enjoyed by a wider audience.聽There are many written accounts from the war, but many are from the perspective of American Air Force personnel.聽The more Canadian stories we can elevate, the better.鈥澛�
That did not mean the book came easily, as information was not always easily found.聽
鈥淥ne of the common threads for the time at the end of the war in Europe was the lack of documentation,鈥� said Newburg. 鈥淎t the beginning of the war, records about air missions were very detailed and it was easy to cross-check Allied losses against records of Luftwaffe successes.聽聽
鈥淭owards the end of the war, records became more sparse.聽聽
鈥淚n some cases, there may have been a lack of motivation to document every detail when the war was winding down, bases were being closed and POW records were being seized by liberating US troops.聽聽
鈥淩ecords which may earlier in the war have been meticulously archived were either no longer available or never properly recorded.聽聽聽
鈥淎nother challenge was collecting personal photos, mementos and documents for each of the crew members. It took nearly a year just to track down family members of the crew.聽聽
鈥淔or some of the families, these boxes of memories may not have been opened in many years and it was an emotional journey for many of them digging through their fathers鈥� photos and documents.聽In many cases, the families were learning of their father鈥檚/grandfather鈥檚/uncle鈥檚 war experience for the first time. The surviving crew members came home resumed their lives and spoke little to their families of what they went through in the war.鈥澛�
As might be expected the book did not come together overnight.聽
鈥淭he whole process took about two years and I hit a lot of dead ends in my research,鈥� said Newburg.聽鈥淭he project required scouring through hundreds of pages of squadron logs, service records and personal letters.聽聽聽
鈥淚 was honored to be given so much information by the families of the crew members. Robert Harris wrote home to his wife Margaret several times a week while overseas and she kept all of her husband鈥檚 letters.聽聽
鈥淗arris鈥� daughter Betty was so kind to share transcripts of these letters with me. Families of other crew members shared their photos, log books, letters and other treasures.聽It was fascinating to piece together the crew鈥檚 experiences through all these little jewels of information.鈥澛�
Once captured, the information on the airmen grew harder to find.聽
鈥淧iecing together the surviving crew members鈥� POW experiences was a particular challenge,鈥� said Newburg.聽鈥淚n particular, I was having difficulty determining which POW camp my great-uncle had been liberated from. His writings provided clues, but no firm evidence of the actual camp. I had a long list of stock footage clips of several Stalag Lufts 鈥� the prisoner of war camps for Allied airmen. My plan was to narrow down possible locations, and then start digging through the footage. One day while eating my lunch at work, I decided to go through some of it to pass the time. On one of the first clips I clicked on, my heart nearly stopped鈥� there was a clip of my great-uncle, head in bandages, smiling and chatting with his fellow liberated POWs at the Dulag Luft transit camp in Wetzlar. With all the many hours of POW camp footage available, I couldn鈥檛 believe my luck at finding the one reel where Doug had made an appearance. I went out and bought a lottery ticket that day. Every time I think back to that moment, I get goosebumps.鈥澛�
So what does the author think is the best aspect of the book? 聽聽
鈥淎 letter from Robert Harris to a crew member who had been hospitalized after an accident, posted just three days before he was killed,鈥� said Newburg, adding there are others too; 鈥渁 photograph of Douglas Hicks, his head wrapped in bandages, celebrating liberation from a prisoner of war camp.聽David Yemen鈥檚 first and only letter to his fianc茅 from the POW camp where he was being held; all these treasures that make the crew鈥檚 story heart-stopping and real.鈥澛�
Newburg likes what she has created.聽
鈥淚 am very pleased with the results of the book, but I would be dishonest to say there weren鈥檛 more aspects I would have liked to have delved into more fully,鈥� she said.聽鈥淚 wish I had gone through the process 10 years ago, when I could have asked my great-uncle about his experiences in person.鈥澛�
So might there be a follow-up book?聽
鈥淭he Harris Crew ends with a puzzling mystery associated with this crew,鈥� admitted Newburg.聽鈥淥n March 7, 1945 the crew was shot down over Germany. Of the seven crew members, four parachuted to safety (to become POWs), two bodies were found in the wreckage and the remains of the pilot, Flying Officer Robert Douglas Harris (from Winnipeg) were never found.聽聽聽
鈥淭he morning after the crash, a pilot was discovered by a labourer on a German farm in the town of Klein Fl枚the, having parachuted from a disabled aircraft. The airman spoke with the town鈥檚 teacher and identified himself as a farmer, from outside of Winnipeg.聽The airman was marched off by members of the town鈥檚 home guard and his body was later found in the nearby wood with two bullets in his back.聽聽聽
鈥淒ue to similar physical descriptions and the mention of Winnipeg, RAF investigators believed this unknown airman might be Robert Douglas Harris, though never with enough conviction to have the grave of the remains marked as such.聽The Air Ministry Casualty Branch of the RAF closed the case in 1949 and the remains of the mysterious airman of Klein Fl枚the are still buried in Hanover Cemetery in Germany.鈥澛�
The mystery lingers.聽聽聽
鈥淗arris鈥� daughter contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Canada鈥檚 Department of National Defence hoping to get some closure on the identification of the mystery airman,鈥� said Newburg.聽鈥淭he CWGC were able to confirm the burial details but were unwilling to pursue the matter further.聽 She never received a reply from the DND. It is highly unlikely the 鈥榤ystery airman鈥� could have been Harris, as his aircraft went down 100 km away from Klein Fl枚the, however the possibility cannot be ruled out as a number of other Allied airmen parachuted to safety in the same time period and were driven to nearby towns by locals with cars.聽
鈥淢y goal for book two is to find out what really happened in Klein Fl枚the and identify the 鈥榤ystery airman.鈥欌��
