The men of pilots' course 21B at No. 2 Service Flying Training School, RNZAF Station Woodbourne. (Left to right): Back; JP Franklin, ER Markland, LD Hutton, RH Blyth, FD Clark, EB Withell, RH Broady. Third row; BA Gumbley, HR Harrop, S Alcock, DB Chamberlain, JG Duffill, JD Villers, T Wyllie, GI Ellis. Second row; WA Irwin, JW Nelson, TWO Fox, DH McKenzie, RF Hancock, MA Sullivan, F Simpson, WEB Turner. Front; ED Sale, WJJ Warwick, JM Paynter, AF Tucker, DO Stewart, RT Johnston, LHF Brown, J Bains, IJ Land.
Who was Flight Lieutenant William Irwin?
His name appears on the cenotaph in Dannevirke’s domain, but his story may not be known to many.
As Anzac Day approaches, it’s something his niece, Karen Robinson, wants to rectify.
Like many others, William, known as Bill to his family, made what has often been called the “ultimate sacrifice”.
While the circumstances behind what happened remain lost in the annals of history, it was believed that Irwin, along with the crew of his Lancaster bomber, crashed in northern France in June 1944.
Born at Raumati - in what would eventually become the Tararua District - on April 2, 1915, he was educated at Matamau School.
He was the only son of William John and Ellen Irwin, who also had five girls.
He was balloted in March 1941 and enlisted at Levin in August 1941.
After successfully completing training, he was sent to No. 2 Service Training School in New Plymouth before being posted to Woodbourne in Blenheim.
He was awarded the Flying Badge, then promoted to the rank of sergeant in January 1942.
In February 1942, he was sent to the United Kingdom, and in May that year was posted to the No. 11 Advanced Flying Unit in Shropshire.
After training with this unit, he was sent for training on Wellington bomber aircraft and carried out a raid over Germany.
By October 1942, he was posted to No. 15 Squadron in Cambridgeshire, where he carried out 29 operational raids over Germany, France and Italy, as well as mine-laying operations.
In March 1944, he was posted to No. 7 Squadron in Oakington, Cambridgeshire, and as a pilot of Lancaster bomber aircraft, carried out 20 operational raids over enemy territory.
On the night of 23/24 June 1944, then-Flight Lieutenant Irwin took off from Oakington for the target of Courbonne.
The aircraft failed to return to base and the crew were reported missing. A telegram listing Irwin as ‘Missing in Action’ was sent to his family in Matamau.
An investigation after the war revealed that the plane crashed near Dunkirk and Irwin, along with his crew, was buried in a comrades’ grave in the cemetery at Warhem, about 14 kilometres from Dunkirk.
The rest of his crew were either Royal Air Force or Royal Australian Air Force personnel.
A letter detailing the findings of the investigation signed by Air Secretary Barrow in the Air Department was sent to his mother.
Irwin was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1943.
Karen and her husband Phil had done some research into her uncle and had been able to read his logbook, which told of the flights he’d completed, along with the dangers he faced.
Nigel Brewin, from the Dannevirke RSA committee, said Irwin, along with others who never returned, were not “mere footnotes” in history.
“It is said that one is only truly forgotten when their name is uttered for the last time, but our fallen have their names carved on stone and their names will live a million years.”
He said when the name was read from the foot of the cenotaph by a descendant or a passerby, they had been remembered.
“The name they read belongs only to the one that never came home, who came from that community and who now lies in a well-tended grave that may or may not have been visited, or perhaps, lies un-buried in an as-yet-to-be-discovered location, or in the bowels of a ship deep in an ocean where their remains will never be found.”
Brewin said the inscriptions on monuments inspired people to research who they or their family members were in order to locate their grave and pay their respects, even more than 100 years later.
He said their medals were often found in attics and op-shops; lost or unwanted. But finding them would drive those that found them to return those medals to the families or learn about the one who died.
“They are gone, yes, but the final victory is their legacy to us, and that is the greatest mark they gave.”
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