Name
Wilfred Ernest (Peter) Sapsed
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
11/11/1941
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
1253598
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
234 Sqdn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
JANVAL CEMETERY, DIEPPE
Section F, Row B, Grave 8.
France
Headstone Inscription
TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH, A CROWN OF LIFE SHALL BE
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2), Woolmer Green Village Memorial
Biography
He came to the Hitchin Grammar School in 1926 from Barkway Elementary School. Having gained his School Certificate, he left the School in 1931 and worked with his brother and father, Mr W. J. Sapsed, on the family farms at Woolmer Green and Codicote.
Shortly after the outbreak of war, he volunteered to fly fighters but was rejected at first due to being a farmer and therefore in a reserved occupation. By changing the description of his occupation he managed to obtain acceptance into the RAF., was allocated Service Number 1253598 and received initial training at Cambridge. He was posted to Hatfield where he had flying instruction on Tiger Moths. Later he went to Moose Jaw in Canada for training on Harvards.
On his return to England he was posted to 234 Squadron at Ibsley not far from Warminster, to fly Spitfire Vbs. He specialised in low-level attacks on marshalling yards and the like.
The afternoon of the 11th November 1941 was misty over France and in the course of an attack on Dieppe in Spitfire Vb W3934 he flew into the cliffs. His body was recovered and buried in Section F, Row B, Grave 8 in Janval near Dieppe in France.
He was the son of John and Florence Matilda Sapsed of Finchley in Middlesex.
A few days before, his parents felt that he had a strong premonition of his death. He was engaged to be married at the time and also just about to be commissioned.
An inscribed reading desk for the Hitchin Grammar School Hall stage table and four matching chairs were presented to the school by his parents to the memory of their son.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Hitchin Grammar School Registers, Mr Alan Sapsed - his cousin, ‘RAF Fighter Command Losses’ by N.L.R. Franks, ‘RAF Squadrons’ by C.G. Jefford
