Photo Albums
Geoffrey Bruce Hope 'Sandy' Sandilands
The Dad I Never Met
Around the time of his 20th birthday, my
father was shipped overseas from Sydney,
Australia, in June 1943,
ending up at RAF Base Hixon, in Staffordshire, England in June 1944. During
that year, he had come to Canada as part of the British Commonwealth Training
Plan and met my mother at the #3
Bombing and Gunnery School at Macdonald RCAF Base in Manitoba. In May
1944, they married after much discussion about the fact he could be sent
overseas and never return. But a miracle happened and, due to our
British Government connections and, the fact all the young men in his
family (2 brothers and a brother-in-law) had already been killed in WW2
while serving in the RAAF (Australia) -- in India and N. Africa -- Dad
was told he would not be sent overseas. However, upon return from their
honeymoon, all this was apparently forgotten and the unthinkable happened -- his transfer papers were waiting
for him, sending him to England. However, it later became known that the
British government had not totally abandoned him,
for in England he was told he would not be flying, he would be an
on-ground trainer.
At Hixon Air Base, he was detailed to
training rear gunners. However, it seems his kind nature and love
of flying was meant to seal his fate irregardless of the precautions.
Barely months later, on that
fateful night of October 31st, 1944, one of his Aussie buddies got
sick and Dad saw the opportunity to do what he loved ... to fly ... taking his
buddies place on that night training flight. They
encountered a wild electrical storm that night crashing into a tree as
they tried to find the landing strip. That tree was located in Ingestre Park
(now a golf course) not far from Hixon Field. Sadly, all nine young Flight
Officers were killed. They were buried together in the War Graves Cemetery
(Blacon) just outside of Chester, Staffordshire.
Left behind was a grieving, young and,
pregnant widow, my 25-year-old mother. I was born in March 1945. In April 2002 I saw
a lifelong dream come true when my mother, my husband Robert, and I
visited the former site of Hixon Field, now a commercial area and my dad's
grave at Blacon
Cemetery. At that time, I met a man who still lived in the village and
remembered that particular crash because he had a clear view of it from
his window. Not wanting to upset my mother further, I did not tell her
these details but I did take a picture of the area.
This first
trip to England for my Mother and I would be a sadly fateful visit as weeks
after our return to Canada, mother succumbed to long-standing heart problems
and died on July 16th. I often wonder how different our lives would have
been if my father had come home from that war, but this was not the path
we were meant to follow. Here are some pictures taken during that bittersweet pilgrimage in 2002 to Hixon Field and Blacon Cemetery.
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Modern Hixon Airfield Estate sign (commercial), Staffordshire, England.
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Old offices at RAF Hixon.
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Some of the old hangers mixed with newer ones.
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Artist's concept of what airfield looked like during WW2.
Painting shows Wellington Bombers during time my Father was stationed there in 1944. |
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Blacon Cemetery outside Chester, Staffordshire, England.
This is one of many serenely lovely and well-kept Commonwealth cemeteries built by the War Graves Dept. of the British Government in countries where battles were fought, or in this case, airfields were located. My dad is buried here and my mother and I came to pay our respects in 2002. |
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A final resting place for too many.
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