Rev. David Youngson has submitted the following:
66505 Pilot Officer John Ernest WARDMAN
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
608 Squadron
The son of Ernest and Dorothy Mary Wardman of Stockton-on-Tees. A Pilot he was Mentioned in Despatches and died on the 20th April 1942 aged 21. He is Remembered on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, Panel 72. His name appears on a 1939-1945 Memorial Plaque in Stockton Cricket Club and on the 1939-1945 Book of Remembrance in Stockton Parish Church.
Editor’s note: 608 Squadron was originally formed at Thornaby-on-Tees and were equipped with Hudson aircraft at the time of his death. The Squadron were based at RAF Wick, Caithness, Scotland. They were engaged in attacking shipping and bombing raids along the Norwegian coast. Records indicate that he was part of a crew of a Lockheed Hudson AM810 UL-F which took off at 16:16 hours on the 20th April 1942 from RAF Wick for a sortie along the Norwegian coast and failed to return. One member of the crew, Flight Sergeant David Robert Wilson is buried in Sola Churchyard, Stavanger, Norway and the remainder are Remembered on the Runnymede Memorial.
