Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Date Information
27/05/2024
27/05/2024 From an unknown Canadian newspaper: Presumed Dead
27/05/2024
27/05/2024 Previously reported missing after air operations overseas, Warrant Officer Clarke, 23, is now for official purposes, ‘presumed dead’. He was the son of Mrs J H Clarke of Outremont, and late of County Tyrone, Ireland. He was educated in Ireland and in Montreal schools and was attending the Diocesan Theological College in Montreal whwen he enlisted. He received his wings in February 1942 and went overseas a month later he is survived by his mother, three sisters (Mrs V Anderson of Town of Mount Royal, Mrs W G Finlay of Three Rivers, and Mrs L Brunelle of Moncton, New Brunswick (N.B.)) and his grandparents living in Ireland.
28/06/2020 James Herbert Stevenson Clarke was the son of Mrs J H Clarke. He was born in Cookstown about 1920.
28/06/2020 In March he went overseas.
28/06/2020 James Herbert Stevenson Clarke received his wings in February 1942.
28/06/2020 He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force from the college.
28/06/2020 James attended Montreal Diocesan College.
28/06/2020 He emigrated to Canada at a young age.
28/06/2020 By November 1944, Warrant Officer Class James Clarke was with 148 (R.A.F.) Squadron.
28/06/2020 James was educated at Oldtown School under Miss Ramsay and Mr George Ramsay, J.P.
28/06/2020 Warrant Officer Class James Herbert Stevenson Clarke is buried in Belgrade War Cemetery in what is now Serbia, part of the old state of Yogoslavia. His inscription reads: SPLENDID YOU PASSED, YOU HONOURED THE CALL OF GOD, KING AND COUNTRY
28/06/2020 He was born in Cookstown and educated at Oldtown School under Miss Ramsay and Mr George Ramsay, J.P. On going to Canada he entered Montreal Diocesan College from which he enlisted, and received his wings in February 1942, and came overseas a month later. It is understood he was killed while on a mission for the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was a bomb aimer and unfortunately his plane crashed. Besides his grandparents he leaves his mother and married sisters, all in Canada.
28/06/2020 Warrant Officer J H S Clarke, son of Mrs J H Clarke, of Outremont, Canada, and grandson of Mr and Mrs James Stevenson of Maghera, and formerly of Millburn Street, Cookstown, who was reported missing, is now presumed dead.
28/06/2020
28/06/2020 James was the grandson of Mr and Mrs James Stevenson of Maghera, formerly of Millburn Street, Cookstown
28/06/2020 On the evening of 3rd November 1943, a Liberator (Serial No. AL509) took off from its Libyan base for a night mission supply-dropping for Yugoslav partisans, codename Fungus 35. Warrant Officer Class James Clarke was bomb aimer, part of a seven man crew.
28/06/2020 rom the Mid Ulster Mail dated 18th March 1944: Canadian Airman Presumed Killed
28/06/2020 His grandparents, his mother and married sisters all resided in Canada at the time of his death.
28/06/2020 The CWGC record Warrant Officer Class I James Herbert Stevenson Clarke as the adopted son of Elizabeth H Clarke, of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
28/06/2020 Warrant Officer Class I James Herbert Stevenson CLARKE (R/79118) Bomb Aimer
28/06/2020 Flight Lieutenant Hugh Irvine CRAWFORD (411065) Wireless Operator
28/06/2020 Flight Sergeant William Joseph DOWLE (1066563) Air Gunner
28/06/2020 Flight Lieutenant Eldon Burke ELLIOTT (J/4524) Navigator
28/06/2020 Warrant Officer Class I Ralph Edward HAWKEN (R/81068) Air Gunner
28/06/2020 Flight Lieutenant Maurice PASSMORE (116910) Pilot
28/06/2020 Flight Sergeant Edwin Archibald TOOLE (R/53246) Flight Engineer
28/06/2020
28/06/2020
28/06/2020 The aircraft did not return. It struck a hilltop four miles north of Kosinjski Zamost, 60 miles southeast of Fiume, on Adriatic coast of Croatia. All seven crew were killed. They were:
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