Letter to Mrs Warren from John Cox
Title
Letter to Mrs Warren from John Cox
Description
John Cox was the pilot the night George was killed. He describes travelling in a vehicle with George's body. George was taken to a cemetery in a village. John continued to a military hospital. George and John had both baled out.
Creator
Date
1945-05-14
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Seven handwritten sheets
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0001,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0002,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0003,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0004,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0005,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0006,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0007
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0002,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0003,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0004,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0005,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0006,
SWarrenGC1580687v30002-0007
Transcription
[deleted] 95 North Rd
Bourne
Lincs [/deleted]
May 14th 1945.
This is the letter from Pilot – my boy George was Navigator.
Dear Mrs. Warren,
I am writing at once in answer to your letter because I know how you must feel and how anxious you will be for even the smallest amount of information I can give you about George.
We were attacked at 9.24 pm on the night of March 16th. George was the only one of the crew whom I definitely identified as his body was in the same vehicle as myself for more than an hour. I noticed his parachute was only fastened on one hook of
[page break]
his parachute harness instead of on two although the one hook should have sufficed had the ripcord been pulled.
We were both taken to the neighbouring village which I was told was Hilchbach (about 15 miles from ANSBACH)
The villagers were rather hostile towards me and so I did not take as much notice of the village as one might expect. From what I did observe, however, it appeared to be a village of about two thousand people dependant on agriculture and possibly a certain amount of forestry. There are four
[page break]
cobbled streets radiating from a small square or market place although there appeared to be little uniformity about the layout of the village. It was typical of that part of Germany with its quite large houses which had definitely suffered from lack of upkeep during six years of war. most of the houses were white brick buildings, some with thatched roofs and others with slate.
Outside the small church is the cemetery into which I saw George carried.
From the road it was difficult to see anything of the cemetery as it was surrounded
[page break]
a large hedge but I visualised it to be small and well kept in keeping with the church to which it was attached. It was at the entrance to this cemetery, the name of which I was not told, that I parted company with poor George as I was taken on another three miles to a military hospital at Friesdorf.
I was admitted to the hospital and had no interviews with any officials at all which is most extraordinary. The Germans were very uncooperative when I asked them for
[page break]
Information regarding the other members of our crew. All they would tell me was that four of my comrades had been buried in the cemetery at Hichbach. They asked me for the names of the four but as I had only actually identified George, I only gave his name as I thought the Germans would forward this information to England immediately. Although I felt sure who the other three would be, as Steve and Rocky had baled out a considerable time before George and myself, there was still that element of doubt.
[page break]
Since I last wrote to you I was moved to the R.A.F. Hospital at Cosford nr Wolverhampton. I was only there three days and the doctor decided I was fit enough to go on a months leave and the W.V.S. kindly brought me all the way to Lincolnshire by car.
When my leg is sufficiently fit to travel by rail I will only be too pleased to come to see you if I can be of any assistance in putting your mind at rest.
Both you and Viv have our greatest sympathy, Mrs Warren, and I know you
[page break]
are being as brave as George was and would wish you to be.
My parents wish to join me in sending our kind regards to you both,
Yours very sincerely,
John Cox
(Pilot)
Bourne
Lincs [/deleted]
May 14th 1945.
This is the letter from Pilot – my boy George was Navigator.
Dear Mrs. Warren,
I am writing at once in answer to your letter because I know how you must feel and how anxious you will be for even the smallest amount of information I can give you about George.
We were attacked at 9.24 pm on the night of March 16th. George was the only one of the crew whom I definitely identified as his body was in the same vehicle as myself for more than an hour. I noticed his parachute was only fastened on one hook of
[page break]
his parachute harness instead of on two although the one hook should have sufficed had the ripcord been pulled.
We were both taken to the neighbouring village which I was told was Hilchbach (about 15 miles from ANSBACH)
The villagers were rather hostile towards me and so I did not take as much notice of the village as one might expect. From what I did observe, however, it appeared to be a village of about two thousand people dependant on agriculture and possibly a certain amount of forestry. There are four
[page break]
cobbled streets radiating from a small square or market place although there appeared to be little uniformity about the layout of the village. It was typical of that part of Germany with its quite large houses which had definitely suffered from lack of upkeep during six years of war. most of the houses were white brick buildings, some with thatched roofs and others with slate.
Outside the small church is the cemetery into which I saw George carried.
From the road it was difficult to see anything of the cemetery as it was surrounded
[page break]
a large hedge but I visualised it to be small and well kept in keeping with the church to which it was attached. It was at the entrance to this cemetery, the name of which I was not told, that I parted company with poor George as I was taken on another three miles to a military hospital at Friesdorf.
I was admitted to the hospital and had no interviews with any officials at all which is most extraordinary. The Germans were very uncooperative when I asked them for
[page break]
Information regarding the other members of our crew. All they would tell me was that four of my comrades had been buried in the cemetery at Hichbach. They asked me for the names of the four but as I had only actually identified George, I only gave his name as I thought the Germans would forward this information to England immediately. Although I felt sure who the other three would be, as Steve and Rocky had baled out a considerable time before George and myself, there was still that element of doubt.
[page break]
Since I last wrote to you I was moved to the R.A.F. Hospital at Cosford nr Wolverhampton. I was only there three days and the doctor decided I was fit enough to go on a months leave and the W.V.S. kindly brought me all the way to Lincolnshire by car.
When my leg is sufficiently fit to travel by rail I will only be too pleased to come to see you if I can be of any assistance in putting your mind at rest.
Both you and Viv have our greatest sympathy, Mrs Warren, and I know you
[page break]
are being as brave as George was and would wish you to be.
My parents wish to join me in sending our kind regards to you both,
Yours very sincerely,
John Cox
(Pilot)
Collection
Citation
John Cox, “Letter to Mrs Warren from John Cox,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 24, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/26835.
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