Hayhurst, Joseph - Flight Sergeant

(No soldier photo available)

7 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died 25 May 1944

Age 29

Flight Sergeant Joseph Hayhurst was the wireless-operator/gunner in a Lancaster bomber which took off at 22-56 hours from Oakington, Cambridgeshire, on a path-finding mission to Aachen, Germany. (N.B. Pathfinders preceded the main bomber force to indicate the target with flares). The aircraft later crashed at Schophoven, Germany. All seven of the crew were killed. The crew had completed over half of the projected sorties, after which they would have been rested.

Joseph was the son of Robert and Anne Hayhurst. He was married to Marjorie, of Helmshore. He was aged 29. He attended St.Oswald's School and worked as a butcher for the Wholesale Meat Association in Accrington before he joinec the R.A.F.V.R.

Joseph's remains are in Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany. The cemetery is situated between Krefeld and Wesel. The site was chosen in 1946 for the concentration of graves moved from many smaller cemeteries in that part of the country. There are now 3,326 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in the cemetery. Joseph lies in a Collective Grave in Plot 7, Row A, Grave 1-6.