William James Boyce

Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church

Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Medals: 1939–45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, War Medal 1939–1945

Rank and number: Sergeant Wireless operator/air gunner

Parents: Arthur John and Violet Grace Boyce

Marital status: Married

Home address: Kingswood

Pre-war occupation: Bricklayer’s apprentice

Date of birth: 04/10/1921

Date of death: 04/10/1943

Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Gosselies Communal Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium

Age: 22

Further information:

419 Royal Canadian Airforce Squadron and Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

William was stationed at RAF Middleton St George, county Durham with 419 squadron where he had been since the end of February 1943. On the day that he was killed William and his crew of Halifax bomber JD463 had completed their bombing run on Frankfurt and were headed back to base when they were attacked by a night fighter of the Luftwaffe. There was an explosion, the aircraft went out of control, rapidly losing height and the order was given to bail out. There was a second explosion and the aircraft came down at Ham sur Heure in Belgium in flames and exploded on impact killing William and all but one of the remaining crew, a sergeant Renner. Renner was the only man who had managed to bail out in time. William died on his 22nd birthday.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
http://www.419squadron.com/JD463.html