A Memory.............................assignment30

............of an uncle I never met.
Billy Russell is a name engraved deep in my childhood memory. He was talked about constantly within the large family of my welsh grandparents. When his parents returned home to Wales after the war I saw pictures of him, heard how he had been Dux of his school. He and his father played in the brass band of which there were many in New Zealand. he won medals for playing the cornet.(Medals shown in the picture)
At the age of 21 with many other young New Zealand men he joined the Royal New Zealand Airforce. After some training there he then came to England.
In 1941 he was shot down over France. Due to his injury he had part of his arm amputated.
In Douglas Bader's book "Reach For The Sky" he mentions being in hospital with a young New Zealander who was in great pain having had part of his arm amputated. Within the family we often wondered if this was Billy.
My cousin and I decided that we would write and ask Douglas Bader but within weeks of us deciding this and not getting round to doing anything about it, Bader died suddenly.

Many years later my brother-in-law a top dressing pilot was here on holiday and my father was telling the story of Billy Russell. He produced his log book and my B-in-L thought he had seen a book in N.Z. written about 485 Squadron. Within a few weeks a copy arrived and there was the information that we think confirmed the identity of Billy in Baders book as in fact they were in the same hospital at the same time.

He was repatriated in 1943 and fitted with an artificial arm, he was retrained for flying. In February 1945 he was flying a plane in an exercise with the army. Following engine failure his plane crashed into a river bed in Mid-Wales. 3 Days later they found his body.
I still wish I had met him as I feel I know him quite well.
I found out not long before my father died that in fact he was not my father's cousin as I thought, but his half brother .
I often get these things out and look at them. I have looked for clues which might help me trace a young lady who claimed that they were about to be married.
There are still many questions I would love answered but I have resigned myself to the fact that they never will be.