Hills, George Gresham Stanley

98 Sqn RAF (Never Failing) During the evacuation at Dunkirk, France, over ninety members of 98 Squadron boarded the 17,000 ton liner SS Lancastria and were among the lost when the ship was sunk by air attack off St. Nazaire. The Lancastria was loaded military personnel and civilians when it was hit and sunk in less than 15 minutes with large loss of life (estimates 4,000 to 6,000) by a single bomb dropped from a German Stuka aircraft. This was the biggest naval tragedy of the War. After an investigation of the loss the official records are sealed until 2041. Pilot Officer MH Brown from MacGregor, Manitoba was within seconds of shooting down the enemy aircraft, he succeeded in his endeavor but too late to save the ship from being bombed. 98 Sqn pilot Sergeant GGS Hills (RAF)(Can) Cpl N Cocking (RAF)(Can), Leading Aircraftman JH Norris (RAF)(Can), Leading Aircraftman HV Smith (RAF)(Can) and among the missing, presumed killed. They have no known graves and are commemorated on the Runnymede War Memorial. Allison & Hayward note that airman E Ansell (RAF)(Can), 60 Sqn RAF survived the sinking, and saw later service in Greece and Crete.