Virtual
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Australia

John  Robert TREE (1922-1944)

John Robert Tree was born in Brisbane, the son of Arthur and Rachel, with three siblings; Arthur, Hazel and Annie.  They were living in Mitchelton, a suburb of Brisbane when he enlisted for service in the RAAF in 1942.

First port of call for an enlistee was determination of suitability for a 'mustering', the trade or skills set in which the candidate would find themselves employed.

John was mustered Air Crew (which can be determined by the fact that his service number commences with a '4'). He  was sent to No 3 Initial Training School at Sandgate a beachside suburb of Brisbane. The ITS conducted further screening tests and John was identified for Air Gunnery training, which in his case saw him despatched to Maryborough and No. 3 Wireless and Air Gunnery School, and then to Evans Head and No. 1 Bombing and Air  Gunnery School.

There was a prescribed progression of training and John completed each stage before embarking from Melbourne in March 1943 to complete his training in the UK.  He undertook Operational Training and then 'crewed up' with the men he would fly with before completed Conversion Training as a a crew in the aircraft type (Lancasters) they would be operating in. 

Posted initially to No. 61 Squadron, they were identified as possessing the attributes that the Pathfinders were looking for and in September 1943, they joined No. 83 Squadron in the Pathfinder Force.

This description of what happened on 29 January 1944, comes from the 'Air War over Denmark' site.

The aircraft belonged to RAF 83 Sqn Bomber Command and was coded OL-B.
T/o 00:19 Wyton OP: Berlin.

While outbound JB412 was attacked by a JU 88C night fighter of II./NJG 3 with the crew of Pilot Hauptmann Gerhard Raht, Funker Feldwebel Anton Heinemann and Bordmechaniker Unteroffizier Werner Hesse and controlled by the radar station “Star” based at Lütjenhorn in Northern Germany. At 02:37 the Lancaster exploded in the air and the wreckage were spread over a radius of 2½ kilometres just north of the village of Varnæs.

During the morning the surviving flyers and their parachutes began to show up. There were reports of parachutes found at Tråsbøl, Brobøl, Ullerup and Bovrup. In a field near Bovrup was found a dead flyer and his parachute. In the same area was found a dead flyer without parachute.

At 07:32 hours W/O John Fell knocked on the door at a farm in Rufas near Ullerup. The flyer was picked up by the Wehrmacht.

A flyer landed in parachute on the roof of the house next to the telephone exchange at Skoletoften 12 in Blans. It was Pilot William Simpson who hurt his forehead when falling from the roof. He was taken to the exchange and had the wound dressed. No one of those Danes present had any command of the English language but Simpson still tried to persuade them into hiding him. Due to there being quite a lot of German sympathizers in the village no one dared hiding him. Apparently, someone had seen him and at 09:20 two German soldiers arrived on a motorcycle and picked him up.

At 14:23 F/Sgt William Livesay came to the farm Ballegård in Blans. He was picked up by the Wehrmacht.

Air Bomber P/O Ronald Pilgrim landed near Ullerup and hid in a shack belonging to the Vicarage. When evening came he sneaked into the barn. Here he was found around nine o`clock by the son of Reverend Warncke. The Reverend was admitted to the hospital, but Mrs. Warncke tried to find a way to help the flyer. She called Reverend Sjellerup of Nybøl and together they tried to find a way out.

They did not have any luck and as a last resort they called the Chief Constable Bjerre of Gråsten. He however declared that he would inform the Wehrmacht where they could pick Pilgrim up.

Pilgrim was along with the rest of the crew sent to Dulag Luft at Oberursel near Frankfurt an Main where he arrived on 31/1 and stayed until 3/2 when he was sent to Stalag Luft III. He arrived on 6/2-1944 and stayed until 28/1-1945 when he was sent to MARLAG/MILAG Tarmstedt where he arrived on 4/2. He was liberated on 11/4-1945.

Simpson arrived in Dulag Lufton 31/1-1944 and stayed until 5/2 when he was sent to Stalag Luft II Sagan where he arrived on 8/2. He stayed until 12/2-1945 when he was sent to Stalag XIII o Nürnberg where he arrived on 17/2. On 4/4-1945 he was sent to Stalag VII A Moosburg where he stayed from 13/4 until liberation on 29/4 1945.

Livesay was transferred from Dulag Luft after questioning and arrived at Stalag Luft I Barth on 13/2 1944. He stayed until liberation on 1/5 1945.

Fell left Dulag Luft and arrived at Stalag Luft VI Heydekrug on 13/2 and stayed until 15/4 1944 when he was sent to Stalag Luft IV Kiefeheide where he arrived on 19/4 and stayed until 6/2 1945. On 26/3 1945 he arrived in Stalag IIB Fallingbostel where he stayed until liberation on 8/4 1945.

The two dead flyers found near Bovrup were Flt. Engr. Sgt Thomas K. McCash and Navigator F/S John J. Martin. They were both laid to rest in Aabenraa cemetery on 2/2 1944.

The third casualty Air Gnr. F/Sgt John R. Tree RAAF had landed in the sea and was found drowned in Alssund near Sønderborg on 19/6 and was laid to rest in Aabenraa cemetery on 22/6 1944.

Sources : AS 70-361, Report Aabenraa police, LBUK, BCL, BA, John Vaupel, CWGC, Heinemann, Nonnenmacher file, WO 344/187/2 & /160(2) & /288/2 & 253/1.