Funeral of Vincent Jarvis, 1942
Norman McIntyre of the Brill crew, 97 Squadron, who was killed on 16 December 1943, left a small photograph album containing pictures of his earlier time in the RAAF. It ended abruptly with photographs of the funerals of two friends, Vince and Jeff, also Australian, who were killed in training accidents in Canada in July 1942.
‘Self’ is Norman McIntyre. There is no information about the fourth friend, Len.
It is not known exactly what happened to Vince and Jeff. They were killed flying in an Avro Anson, which usually had a four man-crew, but it is unclear whether they were in the same aircraft.
Funeral of Jeff Everist, 1942
They are both buried at Winnipeg but in different cemeteries. Vince is in the Roman Catholic cemetery at Assumption Gardens, which has an unusual layout in that the tombstones are flat to the ground.
Jeff is buried at Winnipeg Brookside Cemetery. He was only 19 years of age. The epitaph on his tombstone is very moving:
For us his voice is still
But the memory of his
Shining soul lives on
Norman McIntyre is buried in the Berlin 1939-45 Cemetery. Four of his crew of eight have no known grave. He died eighteen months after his two friends, Vince and Jeff, when his aircraft was hit by flak over Berlin.
With many thanks to John Kuss for the information about Norman McIntyre and the album photographs..
And to Steven Smart for the photographs of Vince and Jeff’s graves in Canada.
WAR STORIES 