Name
Anthony John Wallace
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
22/11/1944
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
1615678
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
WILLIAN (ALL SAINTS) CHURCHYARD
East of Church.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ANTHONY JOHN, KILLED ON ACTIVE SERVICE. LOVED AND REMEMBERED ALWAYS
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. Saviour's Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born on the 1st October 1922 and attended Caldicott School Hitchin from 1928 to 1936 and went on to Leys in Cambridge. After leaving school he entered the business of Wallace Bros, dairymen of Hitchin. Like his brother Sam, he was an enthusiastic motorist and often attended trials at Dennington Park and Brooklands.
He joined the RAF. with the Service Number 1615678 when he was eighteen and was sent to Canada to complete his training as a navigator. On return to the United Kingdom he became a Serjeant Navigator in Bomber Command with 1660 Conversion Unit While on a practice flight in Oxfordshire shortly after he had returned from leave, an incident occurred and some of the crew escaped by parachute, but others perished.
His funeral was in Willian Church at 3.00pm on the 29th November 1944. The coffin was draped with the Union Jack and bearing a large cross of red roses from his family. The coffin was carried from the church by six Serjeants from his station and he was buried in Willian churchyard, east of the Church.
He was the youngest son of William and Lilian Wallace of ‘Longwood’, Willian Rd., Hitchin. His brother Sam served in the army in Egypt, Italy and Holland.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Caldicott School Registers, Paul Johnson - local historian, Herts Pictorial dated 28th November 1944, Herts & Beds Express dated 25th Nov 1944
