John Arthur Gillies, No. 92 Squadron RAF

ON 23 MAY 1940 FATE DEALT A CRUEL BLOW as it had done so often before and would continue to do so.

Pilot Officer John Arthur Gillies of No. 92 Squadron RAF failed to return from a patrol over the French coast at 17:00. The initial cryptic signal received by the RAF’s Casualty Section just before midnight on 24 May attributed the loss to enemy action. He was the eldest son of the eminent plastic surgeon Sir Harold Delf Gilles.

It also stated that ‘Gillies was missing (believed killed)’ (1). Telegrams were then sent to his wife Ellen in Liverpool (they had married in February 1940) and his father in Hampstead.

In view of the importance of Sir Harold’s work with the RAF a Group Captain Powers had asked to be informed of any developments in John’s case – presumably to act as a support for the family.

By June 14 it was clear that John was a Prisoner of War.

An international Red Cross telegram had been received listing him and nine other airmen as being at Dulag Luft, (Durschgangslager der Luftwaffe – Luftwaffe Transit Camp) – the Luftwaffe’s aircrew reception and interrogation centre to which all captured airmen were sent before continuing on to a prisoner of war camp https://iwmvolunteerlondon.wordpress.com/2017/11/11/the-unassuming-...

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74939210

http://aircrewremembered.com/gillies-j.html