Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Date Information
05/01/2020 There was a James Gorman from Stewartstown who served with the Royal Air Force in World War Two, enlisting late in 1940. Gorman was a famed boxer and goalkeeper.
23/12/2019 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 20th July 1940: Roll of Honour
23/12/2019
23/12/2019 GORDON – 25th May 1940, killed in action at Calais, Pilot Officer James Hamilton Gordon, Pier View, Holywood; also beloved cousin of Enie Cochrane, Maidie Thompson, Joe Hardy and Mollie Hardy of Donaghey.
23/12/2019 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 27th July 1940: Roll of Honour
23/12/2019
23/12/2019 GORDON – 25th May 1940, killed in action at Calais, Pilot Officer J H Gordon, nephew of Miss L Hardy and H S Hardy, J.P., Donaghey.
27/08/2019 Known family: James Gordon. Matilda Gordon, James Hamilton Gordon (born 16th September 1909).
27/08/2019
27/08/2019
27/08/2019 James Gordon was born on 16th September 1909 in the Stewartstown area.
27/08/2019 The 1911 census lists James Hamilton as a baby living at house 19 in Donaghey, Stewartstown. His father was a bookkeeper.
27/08/2019 James Gordon went on to be the husband of Virtue Gordon of Holywood, County Down.
27/08/2019 Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) James Hamilton Gordon served with 15 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, based at R.A.F Wyton.
27/08/2019 On 25th May 1940, his aircraft, a Blenheim Mark IV with three crew set off from Wyton as art of a 24 aircraft daytime sortie to seek out targets in the Rety-Fiennes-Guines triangle. They were detailed to bomb troops, vehicles and vital bridges just behind the German front line, which was closing in on the main body of the British Expeditionary Force.
27/08/2019 Their aircraft had the serial no. serial number P6913.
27/08/2019 Pilot Officer Gordon’s aircraft was shot down near St Inglevert on the main road to Calais between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Marquise, with the loss of all three crew.
27/08/2019 The two other crew members were 43157 Pilot Officer Douglas Sidney Reeve Harriman and 580567 Sergeant Peter Bloomer, both from London.
27/08/2019 Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) James Hamilton Gordon and his two comrades are buried in a communal grave in St Inglevert Churchyard. They are the only three CWGC casualties in this cemetery. His inscription reads ‘HE HELPED TO MAKE THE ROAD FOR US TO FIND THE PATH OF PEACE’
27/08/2019 James Hamilton Gordon is commemorated locally on Stewartstown Cenotaph and on the Stewartstown Church of Ireland Roll Of Honour for WW2.
27/08/2019 The CWGC records Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) James Hamilton Gordon as the son of James and Matilda Gordon. He is also recorded as the husband of Virtue O Gordon of Holywood, County Down.
27/08/2019 James Hamilton Gordon was the son of James and Matilda Gordon. James Gordon and Matilda Hardy were married on 2nd October 1901 in the district of Cookstown.
30/12/2015 From left to right: P Bloomer - J H Gordon - D S R Harriman
30/12/2015
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