March 16 – Roll of Honour

Two women who died serving are named in today’s Roll. A Lurgan Sister of the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service died as a result of her service in WW1. A Section Officer in the WAAF from Killyleagh died in a WW2 flying accident. Their graves are in their home churchyards. Three Royal Ulster Riflemen were killed in a road accident near Antrim. Photo – The Great War Battlefields in Winter: the French Cemetery at Chattancourt near Mort Homme, Verdun.

Representing their comrades who died on this day

1916

+HILL, Alexander,
Royal Field Artillery, HQ staff, 93 Bde. Gunner. 65453. Died 16/03/1916. Born on 24/04/1897, the son of shoemaker John and his wife Sarah Mullan, Kilbride Road, Doagh.They had married in Kilbride Presbyterian Church on 06/06/1890.  Alexander enlisted in Glasgow. Ferme-Olivier Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium. Kilbride Presbyterian Church RH

1919

+McGIBBON, Rosa Anne
Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. RA. Sister. Died 06/03/1919. Sister McGibbon had enlisted on 2nd June 1915 and had embarked from Southampton on His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Aquitania on 19/11/1915, arriving in Suez on 29/11/1915. She served in the 18th Stationary Hospital and the 21st General Hospital in Egypt and was invalided home when severe glycosuria was detected following an operation for appendicitis and a subsequent bout of influenza. Daughter of David and Mary McGibbon, of 40, North St., Lurgan. Lurgan (Dougher) Roman Catholic Cemetery. Memorial St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast

1941

+HEFFERLIN, John
Royal Ulster Rifles, 6th Btn. Rifleman. 7018196. Died 16/03/1941 at Massereene Hospital, Antrim. Aged 45. He was one of 3 men serving in the Rifles killed when their lorry crashed at Dunadry. The vehicle was on its way from Belfast to Antrim when it struck a barricade near a bridge. The impact threw the men from the vehicle, leaving them with severe head injuries and lacerations. The other victims of the lorry crash were Corporal J McKeown and Sergeant Major Jim McIlvenny. The driver JS Donly survived the incident, suffering from shock. Milltown Cemetery, Belfast

+McKEOWN, Robert John Baine McKeown
Royal Ulster Rifles, 6th Btn. Corporal. 25094. Died 16/03/1941. Son of James McKeown and Mary McKeown of Drumaness, Co. Down, and husband to Margaret Anne McKeown (née Kennedy) of Belfast. Christ Church Churchyard, Kilmore, Co. Down

1942

+BLAKISTON – HOUSTON, Barbara Kathleen
WAAF. Section Officer. 1696. Died 16/03/1942. Aged 24. Died in a flying accident. Daughter of James Edward and Dorothy Blakiston-Houston of Killyleagh. Loughinisland (St. John) Church of Ireland Churchyard

+BONAR, Samuel
62 Gen. Transport Coy. Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. Private. B/82613. Died 16/03/1942. Aged 39. Son of James Boyd Bonar and Jeanie Bonar, of Ballymena; husband to Kathleen Bonar. Ballymena New Cemetery. High Kirk Presbyterian Church RH

+MAGEE, Hugh Larmour
RAFVR. Flight Lieutenant. 81690. Died 16/03/1942. Aged 30. B.A. (Dublin): Trinity College. Son of Edward and Jane Magee of Finaghy. Carrickfergus cemetery. QUB WM

1944

+ATCHESON, Samuel Cunningham
RAFVR. Pilot Officer (Pilot). 161591. DFC. Died 16/03/1944. Aged 24 57 Sqdn. Son of Caldwell and Rebecca Atcheson, of Drumquin, Co. Tyrone. Vevey (St Martin’s) Cemetery, Switzerland.

+WASSON, Sydney
RAFVR. Sergeant.1063520. Died 16/03/1944. Aged 25. 625 Sqdn. 
Son of Robert and Mary Wasson, of Dunadry, Co. Antrim. Runnymede Memorial, Panel 239

1945

+FINNERTY, Austin
RAFVR. Sergeant. 2225471. Died 16/03/1945. Age 23. 49 Sqd. Son of Augustine and Rose Finnerty, of Newry. Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany

NOTES

16/03/1917 – British make gains on the Somme as they occupy St. Pierre Vaast Wood, dominating Peronne.

16/03/1935 – Adolf Hitler orders German rearmament in violation of The Treaty of Versailles

16/03/1942 – First test launch of the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile, the Vergeltungswaffe 2 (V-2 rocket). The rocket crashed after about a mile. Hitler was not convinced, not yet.

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