Name
John Mayes
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
17/01/1942
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
1254004
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
51 Sqdn
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Panel 89.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. Mark’s Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin, Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2)
Biography
From 1932-1938 he attended Hitchin Grammar School, and his home was in Hermitage Road, Hitchin. On leaving, he studied to become an Architect at a Polytechnic in London. He was a handsome man, almost six feet tall, of a quiet disposition and respectful to parents and fiancée alike. He enjoyed walking and visits to the theatre.
Joining the RAF. in 1940, he was given Service Number 1254004. A trained wireless operator/air gunner. He was stationed at Kinloss in Scotland and was reported missing from his 29th operational flight over Germany. A telegram was received by his parents on the 17th January 1942 that he had not returned He had taken off at 17.20hrs from Dishforth in Yorkshire in a Whitley V bomber Z9301 MH-N with 51 Squadron for a raid on Emden and was presumed killed. None of the six crew in the aircraft were ever found.
He has no known grave, but a memorial stone in Hitchin Cemetery reads "In loving memory of Sgt John Mayes R.A.F.(V.R.) only son of Thomas and Beatrice Mayes missing from operations January 16/17 1942 aged 21 years". He is also remembered on Panel 89 of the RAF. Runnymede Memorial to the Missing at Egham in Surrey.
At the time of his death he was engaged to be married, his fiancée Ursula, being in the A.T.S. He was the only child of Thomas Lawson and Beatrice Caroline Mayes who lived at 61, Periwinkle Lane, Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Mrs U.MH. Stevenson, his fiancée at that time, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘RAF Bomber Command Losses 1942’ by W.R. Chorley, Herts & Beds Express dated 24th Jan 1942
