Pilot Officer George York and Crew – 102 (Ceylon) Squadron, Pocklington

My father George York was at the start of World War 2 Manager of Stuart Alexander and Coy Pty Ltd Tobacco Importers but once importing dried up due to the war he decided to join the Air Force and commenced training in October 1942 at the Bradfield Park RAAF Training Base at West Lindfield NSW. I was almost one year old and the only child.

His story is similar to many who were trained in the Empire Training Scheme when he travelled across Canada before departing for the UK in September 1943 and after much further training was posted to 102 Squadron with Halifax bombers in May 1944.

He completed the first half of his tour but was shot down by a German Nightfighter on his return trip after bombing at Russellheim and their plane crashed in flames over a small town called Rehborn about midnight on the 12^th/13^th August 1944 with all on board losing their lives.

The crew for that trip consisted of 4 English and 4 Australians in the following roles:

Crew of the Halifax, 12/13 August 1944

RAAF	Pilot	FL PE Young
RAF	2^nd Pilot	FO KL Walker
RAAF	Bombaimer	PO George York
RAF	Navigator	PO RH Osborne
RAF	Wireless Operator	Sgt J Finney
RAAF	Air Gunner	PO JG Gordon
RAF	Engineer	Sgt JG Doughty
RAAF	Air Gunner	PO AH Harvey

The story would have been reasonably normal except for a strange and memorable event which occurred over 60 years later.

Finding Rehborn

I decided in 1997 to visit the site of the crash to see what I could find out. My elder son Richard who lived in Prague and our wives went to Rehborn to see what we could find. The only thing we found at the time was somewhere near the advised place of the crash was two wooden crosses a couple of metres apart but no sign of anything related to the crash so first we had this mystery.

My son Richard spoke fluent German so I encouraged him to contact the local Mayor Thomas Link for further details and he introduced the local historian Rainer Thielen from whom we obtained a book with the town History which included a lengthy article on the crash event which was the only such incident in the town and so quite a significant event.

Eight Memorial Seats

Having contacted Tim Mornin whose mother had married Jack Finney 6 weeks before they were all killed we agreed with Mayor Thomas Link that we would like to donate 8 seats with a suitable plaque in memory of the incident and they agreed accordingly. Below is a picture of the 8 plaques and a map showing the location of the seats scattered around the town. These were officially opened in September 2017 and about 20 people from the town joined the Ceremony.

Eight bronze plaques reading 'In Erinnerung an / In Memory of' followed by the name of each crew member — The eight plaques, one for each member of the crew, in German and English.

Adjacent to my father's seat is a picture of 6 members of the crew with stories in English and German of the incident as shown below in a picture. One of the below photographs shows my two sons Richard and Malcolm sitting on my father's seat.

Information board titled 'Eight memorial benches' with a wartime photograph of six crew members and the story of the crash — The information board beside PO George York’s bench. Crew photograph courtesy of the Australian War Memorial.

Richard and Malcolm seated on the memorial bench, with the information boards on a post behind them — Richard and Malcolm on their grandfather’s seat on the Rehborn Nature Walkway.

Also at the Ceremony the Mayor presented Tim, Richard and Myself with a plaque on which he had adhered bits of the plane recently dug up from the crash site as per photograph below.

Timber plaque with three weathered metal fragments of the aircraft and a small plate reading 'In Memory 12.08.1944' — Fragments of the Halifax recovered from the crash site, presented by the Mayor of Rehborn.

Locating the Seats

Should any relatives or others be interested in locating the various seats in addition to the map below the following details may assist:

Map of Rehborn showing the locations of the eight RAF/RAAF memorial benches with a photograph of each — RAF/RAAF memorial benches at Rehborn, Germany. Tap the map to view it full size.

PO George York Located on the Nature Walkway behind the former railway station, take the first sealed road climb to the left, the bench is in the eastern curve with information signs about the crew. 49.7372145, 7.6936037 · Open in Google Maps
Sgt Jack Finney Located 200m further up an unsealed path to the Norwest of the York bench on the side of a field, located next to an information sign about Rehborn and a signpost regarding the Nature Path. 49.7374723, 7.6908270 · Open in Google Maps
PO Alfred Harvey Located at the conjunction of a grassy path leading across and down the slopes from Sgt Jack Finney (left path at the Finney signpost) and an unpaved road leading from the stone bridge across from a sign and signpost PMPH+HCC Rehborn, Germany. 49.7367893, 7.6783879 · Open in Google Maps
FO Kenneth Walker Located on the path on the right from the Finney signpost and walk around 1 km, beyond a clearing with tables and chairs. Next to a sign about Straucher. 49.7394977, 7.6844269 · Open in Google Maps
PO Rob Osborne Located at Obergasse adjacent to the road leading to the cemetery 50m. 49.7327193, 7.6895097 · Open in Google Maps
FO Philip Young Located from the cemetery fourth turn right and a few hundred meters off road and then first veer right back onto the sealed road. 49.7303535, 7.6935571 · Open in Google Maps
Sgt James Doughty Located after driving 1.8km past FSV 1928 Rehborn Football Club 1m Weiher Street veering right at the bus stop, bench is at the side of the road on the right in a clearing in the Weinwiesental. PP82+3P3 Rehborn Germany. 49.7159272, 7.7025328 · Open in Google Maps
PO John Gordon Located at Muehlstrasse next to the Steinerne Bruecke car park at the entrance to the bridge. 49.7345513, 7.6792026 · Open in Google Maps