MY UNCLE, JIM BYERS, WHO FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR TWO

Information about my Uncle Jim was sparse and my dad never really talked about him, certainly not to me. However from speaking to my cousin, also Jim Byers, and from research on the internet (particularly relating to my uncle's war experiences), I have gleaned the following details.

James BYERS was born in 1924 in Houghton-Le-Spring and married Janet Meldrum WATSON in 1943. This must have been about the time he joined the R.A.F. where he was initially a rear gunner (generally acknowledged to be the most dangerous job on the aircraft), although from what air base he flew out of at that time is not known.

James (Jim) Byers

He was shot down in France but managed to get home with help from the French Resistance. Subsequently, he was moved to Tempsford, in Bedfordshire, which was part of the Royal Air Force Special Duty Service, and was perhaps the most secret airfield of the Second World War. The work here was so secret that people in the nearby village knew nothing of what was going on until after the war. Everyone working at the base had to sign the Official Secrets Act and were forbidden to discuss their work with family or friends.

The Control Tower at Tempsford during the Second World War

At Tempsford, Jim Byers was a Flight Sergeant and there is one photo which he took, which is marked on the back "Tempsford - my ground crew". This is it - 

Tempsford Ground Crew

Tempsford was home to 138 (Special Duty) Squadron and 161 (Special Duty) Squadron, which dropped supplies and agents into occupied Europe for the Special Operations Executive (SOE). 138 Squadron did the bulk of the supply and agent drops, while 161 Squadron had the Lysander flight and did the pick-up operations from occupied Europe.

My Uncle Jim was in 138 Squadron and flew in Halifax and Stirling bombers, mostly with the same aircrew (7 in total), including pilot, Pilot Officer Strathy. From July 1944 to February 1945, 23 missions were flown, which seems a very high number and to have survived that number of flights into "enemy territory" is quite incredible.

I have one other photo of Uncle Jim (on the left), with two of his RAF colleagues.

It would be great to know who the other two are, but it's a long time ago now.

So by the end of the war, Uncle Jim had just turned 21. Amazing to think of all that had happened to him by that very young age!

Jim and Janet (known as "Jenny") had a daughter, Jeanette, in 1943 and by the middle of 1949, Jenny was pregnant again (with my cousin, Jim). However, in June of that year, Uncle Jim suffered a "subarachnoid haemorrhage" (an uncommon type of stroke) caused by a congenital cerebral aneurysm. He died on 9th June, 1949, in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and his son was born early the following year.

Hard to believe that after all he'd been through, Uncle Jim's life was over by the age of 25. I'd love to have had the chance to meet him, but I didn't arrive until 4 years later.