Serjeant 1072884 James Anthony Brogan

BMD details:
Birth of James A Brogan son of James & Jane Brogan nee Ryder reg Q3 1913 Prescot. Vol 8b page 1639 Marriage not found.

Census details:
1939 Register. 26 years old James A Brogan born 25/08/1913 a Mail Collector (Local Government) and parents James Brogan born 19/04/1867 a Glass Bottle Finisher (Retired), Jane Brogan born 26/10/1888 an Unpaid Domestic are living at 34 Brynn Street, St Helens. Also at the address is Kathleen Bate (Friar) born 07/06/1896 a Cinema Attendant who is Married. Two other househiold members are redacted.

Notes:
Brother In Law [ww2cas=151]Bernard Friar[/ww2cas] also died in WW2 Age taken from Birth Record Transcript

Vickers Wellington Mark III Registration - Z1624 115 Squadron - RAF Marham, Norfolk Take off at 23:08 hrs for an operation to Hamburg in Germany. Homeward-bound, the aircraft was shot down by night fighter pilot Leutnant Erich Gollasch of the 6./NJG 2 based at Leeuwarden airfield, who was patrolling in GCI-box Eisbär based at Lemmer. Two of the crew are missing in action: Pilot:411429 Plt Off Leonard Marton Mason RNZAF - Runnymede Memorial Panel 116 Navigator:117137 Plt Off Charles Frederick Thorpe PoW Stalag Luft 3 Sagan & Belaria. PoW Number 608 Bomb Aimer:1072884 Sgt James Anthony Brogan Runnymede Memorial Panel 79 Wireless Operator/Air Gunner:J/7496 Plt Off G B F Pilgrim (American) RCAF PoW Stalag Luft 3 Sagan & Belaria. PoW Number 604. Air Gunner:J/9064 Plt Off J A O Rondeau RCAF PoW Stalag Luft 3 Sagan & Belaria. PoW Number 605 RAF 98 Squadron April 1940 Move to France. In April 1940 98 Squadron moved from England to Chateau Bougon, near Nantes, in France as a supporting unit to the fighting squadrons, supplying replacement crew and aircraft as needed. The movement was divided into 3 groups, Road Convoy Party followed by the Rail/Sea Party and finally the Air Party. In all approx 340 personnel are recorded as taking that journey in AIR-27-785 records. Harry Burrows was part of the air transport section. Sadly during their short stay in France they had to evacuate and on the 17 June 1940, with the sinking of RMS Lancastria, 57 of the personnel were lost. The RMS Lancastria had embarked an unknown number (estimates range from 4,000 up to 9,000) of civilian refugees and RAF personnel. The ship's official capacity was 2,200. She was sunk off the French port of St. Nazaire while taking part in Operation Ariel, the evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation. A fresh air raid had begun at 15:50 by Junkers Ju 88 bomber aircraft from Kampfgeschwader 30. Lancastria was hit by three or possibly four bombs. Three direct hits caused the ship to list first to starboard then to port; she rolled over and sank within twenty minutes. Over 1,400 tons of fuel oil leaked into the sea and was set partially on fire, possibly by strafing. Many drowned, were choked by the oil, or were shot by the strafing German aircraft. Survivors were taken aboard other evacuation vessels, the trawler Cambridgeshire rescuing 900. There were 2,477 survivors, of whom about 100 were still alive in 2011. Many families of the dead knew only that they died with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF); the death toll accounted for roughly a third of the total losses of the BEF in France. She sank around 5 nmi (9.3 km) south of Chemoulin Point in the Charpentier roads, around 9 nmi (17 km) from St. Nazaire. The sheer size of the Lancastria disaster and the fact that the troopship sank in the estuary of the River Loire, trapping many people inside the hull, means that a great many of the bodies were never recovered. This was the the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history. [pic]imgs/sppics/runnymede79.jpg[/pic][caption]James is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial (Picture by PaulC)[/caption]