S/N Block 1424801-1425000 200 RAFVR Belgians Issued from 1 Jan 1942

[Resmoroh]

Hello All,
Interesting Block.
Following on from Alain’s post seeking info on Sgt Backaert I fed the OR s/ns through several on-line sites.
200 x OR numbers. 17 x Deaths. 1 x DFM. 1 x Commissioning.
BUT, most interesting, Find My Past has a:-

1424878 Flt Sgt P Decroix as a POW (no other details).

I looked for him, but we don’t seem to have him! Maybe I was looking in the wrong places. Can the experts please check him out?
What I’ve found for that Block is on an Excel s/sht. If anybody wants it just send me an email address that I can attach it to!
HTH
Peter Davies

[Ross_McNeill]

Spitfire PV134 of No.349 Sqn.

Time up 12.10hrs according to AIR27/1744/28

Ross

[vrajm]

Hi Peter,

Paul Hippolite DECROIX - AIR 78, Paul Hippoliet Decroix

349 Sqdn 1944-11-03 MIA PoW

https://www.bhic.nl/ontdekken/verhal...stad-1940-1945

Paul Hippoliet Decroix, born in Courtrai, Belgium,on 23 March 1921, had moved with his family to Canada in 1929 before settling in the USA

Regards

Mojmir

[wwrsimon]

Peter

His P.o.W. number was 1491, and he's on the May 8th 1945 Nominal Roll of Stalag Luft IIIA under 'R.A.F. Living in Army Barrack - Missing Personal [sic]' and recorded as 'Missing During Unoffical Evacuation.'

I assume that means he'd legged it...

Regards

Simon

EDIT - his story is related in 'The Long Road' by Oliver Clutton-Brock and Raymond Crompton. He was born in Belgium in 1921, he and his family moved to Canada in 1929 before settling in the USA. He joined the RAF on June 10th 1942 as an AC2 before returning to Canada to train as a pilot and then being posted to 349 Sqn. He was shot down when a 20mm shell from a flak battery at Strijensas hit his Spitfire on an armed recce between Hollands Diep and Oude Maas. He was captured within 30 minutes, taken to a barn where he survived a rocket attack by R.A.F. Typhoons and later being shelled by British guns at another farm...

I believe he died in London in 1974?