Desert Flyer brings personal insight of Ormskirk officer’s death in Egypt
FLYING Officer William Ernest Marsh was killed in a flying accident on February 6, 1944 aged 26 whilst serving with 274 Squadron in Egypt.
William was the son of William and Gertrude Marsh of 8 Hillcrest Road, Ormskirk.
The Marsh family were the first owners of number 8 when it was built in 1936.
Killed in the flying accident in February 1944, Flying Officer William Marsh left behind a personal insight into the life of a desert flyer.
A book compiled from his own flying log, Desert Flyer follows Bill Marsh from his early days as a schoolboy, through his RAF training in England and Canada, joins him in his first operational squadron and ultimately his life in North Africa.
Originally posted to No. 605 Squadron, Bill Marsh was to have served in the unit in the Far East. However, fate dictated that he was destined for the desert war.
He joined No. 274 Squadron and flew Hurricane fighter/bombers against Rommel’s forces in the North African desert.
Graphic descriptions of Marsh’s eyewitness accounts of the sinking of the Royal Navy’s aircraft Ark Royal, the aerial dogfights with the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica, (Italian RAF) as well as details of his day-to-day life are all recorded in the book. Over 230 previously unpublished photographs, taken by Bill Marsh, are included.
Utilising private journals, personal letters, photographs, and flying log books, together with details from squadron operational record books, the author has brought to life the words and photographs recorded by William Marsh.
William is remembered on the Comrades Memorial in Coronation Park and on the Parish Church Memorial.
FUSILIER 2453069 Wilfred James Hignett, 1/8th Btn Lancashire Fusiliers, son of Frederick and Mary Hignett nee Monk of 4 Grimshaw Lane and husband of Hazel née Phipps died May 13, 1944 aged 27.’’
Wilfred is remembered in the Kohima War Cemetery, Nagaland, India.
Wilfred, who was born in 1917, had married Hazel in January 1942.
Wilfred was fighting with the British and Allies against the Japanese who had surrounded Kohima by April 1944.
The 1/8th Btn Lancashire Fusiliers suffered heavy losses during the Battle of Kohima including Wilfred, who will have been evacuated from Dunkirk four years earlier.
The memorial tablet from the Salford HQ has been preserved.
SERGEANT Richard Edward Lea, 552844, died July, 19 1941, aged 18 years of 254 Squadron RAF, a wireless operator/gunner son of Richard and Elsie Lea and Grandson of Mrs Sarah Ann Lea nee Ball, of Park Avenue, Ormskirk.
Richard is buried in the parish church graveyard one of 11 local men lost during WWII and buried within the churchyard.
Another of the 11 buried in the churchyard and recognised as dying in war service is assistant steward George James William Banks, Merchant Navy, who served on the Merchant Vessel Apapa out of Liverpool, he died in Ormskirk General Hospital in December 1943 aged 65.
James also served in WWI; he left a wife, Martha Margaret née Prescott, of 85 Southport Road.
Martha and James had married in 1907.