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Turner, John Leon (Sergeant)

Prisoner of War Escapee 1942-February-27

Birth Date: unkown date (age unknown)

Leon married Eileene Kingsley on March 1, 1941 in Outremont, Quebec

Enlistment: Niagara Fall Ontario

Enlistment Date: 1940-06-07

Service
RCAF
Unit
99 (Ferry) OADU- Overseas Aircraft Delivery Unit (RAF)
Rank
Sergeant
Marshal
Air Chief MarshalA/C/M
Air MarshalA/M
Air Vice MarshalA/V/M
Air CommodoreA/C
Group CaptainG/C
Wing CommanderW/C
Squadron LeaderS/L
Flight LieutenantF/L
Flying OfficerF/O
Pilot OfficerP/O
Warrant Officer 1st ClassWO1
Warrant Officer 2nd ClassWO2
Flight SergeantFS
SergeantSGT
CorporalCPL
Senior AircraftmanSAC
Leading AircraftmanLAC
Aircraftman 1st ClassAC1
Aircraftman 2nd ClassAC2
Position
Service Numbers
R/52695
Pilot Officer G Kennedy (RNZAF), Sergeant R H Wattam, Sergeant R Jefferson, Warrant Officer T B Bell, Sergeant M H C Berrie (RAAF), Sergeant J L Turner (RCAF): prisoners of war; Wellington DV510, 99 Squadron; aircraft crashed at sea near Sicily, Italy, during a transit flight between Gibraltar and Malta, 27 February 1942. Former POW Unfolds Story P/O. J. Turner Relates Experiences in Italy Whatever might have been the feeling among Italian Fascists during the war, the peasants were friends of the democratic countries and did all they could to help escaped prisoners. P/O. J. L. Turner, of the R.C.A.F. told the Kiwanis Club of Montreal today at the Windsor Hotel. Captured in Italy, Pilot Officer Turner told the Kiwanians that for nine months after his escape from a prison camp, he travelled all over the country and only three out of hundreds of poor families had refused to run the risk of sheltering a prisoner. He told of being trapped by snow in the Italian mountains and how he had led a group of 16 young men to a partisan hideout. Pilot Officer Turner became a captain of one of the groups of partisans, and recalling narrow escapes, cited the case of one woman who had lost all her sons, but who had risked death to warn him that his whereabouts had been betrayed by an itinerant cobbler. When asked why she had done it, she replied "You may be an enemy of my country, but never of my people. We are freedom loving people who have lost our freedom and will do anything to get it back." The speaker was introduced by Martin J. Foley, and thanked by Harold Cross. The president, W. J. Bryant, thanked Frank Roe for sending 600 peonies to the Children's Memorial Hospital, the Montreal Children's Hospital, the Woman's General Hospital and the Grace Dart Home as gifts from the agricultural committee of the club. Italian Partisans Praised by Ex-POW PO. Turner, R.C.A.F., Says Europeans in Losing Freedom, Learned Its Value Paying tribute to the spirit of the Italian peasantry and to the single-minded unity of purpose which welded men and women from all corners of Europe into one strong and effective partisan force, PO. J. L. Turner, yesterday, addressed members of the Montreal Kiwanis Club at their weekly luncheon meeting at the Windsor Hotel, on the subject, "The Italians were our Friends." "During nine months spent behind German lines in Italy," he said, "there were only three occasions on which I was refused assistance by local peasants, in spit of the fact that death was the Fascist penalty for anyone caught giving this assistance to partisans or escaped prisoners of war." Although the peasants were tempted by a reward, which to them represented a small fortune, for the delivery of information leading to the capture of any escaped prisoner of war or partisan, he added, PO Turner was, himself, a prisoner in Italian hands for 19 months after being forced down in Sicily in 1942. After a mass escape from a concentration camp in September, 1943, he narrowly escaped recapture on several occasions, while attempting to flee Italy by sea and was ultimately prevented by heavy snowfalls from traveling overland to the Allied lines. He spent several weeks, at this time, with an especially heroic peasant family. PO. Turner then established contact with local partisan forces and worked with them for the balance of the winter. Describing partisan activities, he pointed out that these fell into two main categories; the organized sabotage of German supply lines and the feeding of starving peasants. This latter job, he said, had not received great publicity but had resulted in saving of thousands of Italians from starvation. Pointing out that Italian farms were organized on a feudal system under which the landlord extracts almost 50 percent of the total annual produce from each of his tenants, PO. Turned added that during the autumn of 1943, Fascists working for the German high command had toured the country and confiscated all remaining stocks of grain and other foodstuffs, leaving the farmers destitute for the winter. Partisans Strike by Night The work of the partisan groups was the keep track of the Fascist granaries and storehouses and when they were known to be almost full, sweep down upon them in the night, overpower the garrison and open the doors so that people from the surrounding country could enter and take back the grain which had been taken from them. PO. Turner then described the final battle of his particular partisan group, when a greatly superior force of Germans attacked with mortar fire. It was only due to the heroism of four Italians, three men and a woman, who sacrificed themselves in a rearguard action while the remnants of the group escaped into the forest, he said, that the Germans lost over half of their 500 or 600 men during the attack. Concluding, PO. Turner told the story of the heroism of an Italian family when, just before his final escape through the German lines, the whole family saved his life at the almost certain risk of losing their own. Asked why they did this, Maria, the mother, replied in these words, "We can die and it will make no difference to anyone; but to us you represent freedom and if freedom dies, then the world is not worth living in for anyone." PO. Turner said that this was the dominant feeling all over Europe among people who had learned, by losing freedom, just how precious it could be. He pointed out that what had been done by partisan forces all over Europe had been accomplished only by steadfast adherence to one clearly defined goal. If, he concluded, when we had won the war we can continue to work as one great world unit, to preserve the peace for all humanity, then we will have paid our debt to those men and women, all over the world, who have given their lives to establish the "Four Freedoms." PO. Turner was introduced by Martin J. Foley, and thanked by Harold Cross. President W. J. Bryant expressed the club's gratitude to Frank Roe, who had presented 600 peonies to Montreal hospitals.

General Camp 59 Survivors

Wellington DV510

Sergeant Turner, John Leon (RCAF)

Prisoner of War Escapee
1942-February-27
cemetery unknown

Vickers Wellington

Source: Harold A Skaarup Web Page
Vickers Wellington B. Mk. III (Serial No. X3763), coded KW-E, No. 425 'Alouette' (B) Squadron, RCAF, late summer of 1942

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of the aircraft is its geodetic airframe fuselage structure, which was principally designed by Barnes Wallis. Development had been started in response to Air Ministry Specification B.9/32, issued in the middle of 1932, for a bomber for the Royal Air Force. This specification called for a twin-engined day bomber capable of delivering higher performance than any previous design.

The Wellington was used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, performing as one of the principal bombers used by Bomber Command. During 1943, it started to be superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engined "heavies" such as the Avro Lancaster. The Wellington continued to serve throughout the war in other duties, particularly as an anti-submarine aircraft.

It holds the distinction of having been the only British bomber that was produced for the duration of the war, and of having been produced in a greater quantity than any other British-built bomber. The Wellington remained as first-line equipment when the war ended, although it had been increasingly relegated to secondary roles. The Wellington was one of two bombers named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the other being the Vickers Wellesley.

In August 1936, an initial order for 180 Wellington Mk I aircraft, powered by a pair of 1,050 hp (780 kW) Bristol Pegasus radial engines, was received by Vickers; it had been placed so rapidly that the order occurred prior to the first meeting intended to decide the details of the production aircraft. In October 1937, another order for a further 100 Wellington Mk Is, produced by the Gloster Aircraft Company, was issued; it was followed by an order for 100 Wellington Mk II aircraft with Rolls-Royce Merlin X V12 engines. Yet another order was placed for 64 Wellingtons produced by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. With this flurry of order and production having been assured by the end of 1937, Vickers set about simplifying the manufacturing process of the aircraft and announced a target of building one Wellington per day.

A total of 180 Wellington Mk I aircraft were built; 150 for the RAF and 30 for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) (which were transferred to the RAF on the outbreak of war and used by 75 Squadron). In October 1938, the Mk I entered service with 9 Squadron. The Wellington was initially outnumbered by the Handley Page Hampden (also ordered by the Ministry to B.9/32) and the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley (to B.34/3 for a 'night' bomber) but outlasted both rival aircraft in service. The Wellington went on to be built in 16 separate variants, in addition to two training conversions after the war. The number of Wellingtons built totalled 11,462 of all versions, a greater quantity produced than any other British bomber. On 13 October 1945, the last Wellington to be produced rolled out. Wikipedia

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Vickers Wellington

General RCAF - Vickers Wellington

YouTube YouTube Vickers Wellington documentary

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

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last update: 2021-08-30 20:19:05

Wellington 1C DV510



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