14 Dec 2004
Husband: Sidney Michael RUSS other name: Mike O'BRIEN died at age: 34
Born: 29 Mar 1909 Priory Road High Wycombe Bucks 1,2
Died: 5 May 1943 over Dortmund 3
Emigrated: Jun 1927 to Australia 4,5
Event: 18 Mar 1943 wrote to his sister Olive 6
Buried: in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery 7
Education: Apr 1918 John Lyon School for Boys, Harrow 8
Education: 1921- 1924 Shebbear College 9
Occupation: 1924 Menial employment in surveyor's estate office in the City 10
Occupation: 1926 General Strike - London Docks unloading refrigerated meat 11
Occupation: Timber worker etc 12
Military: 1941 RAAF 13
Military: Medals awarded 14
Military: 18 Oct 1942 posted to Bournemouth with his RAAF squadron 15
Military: May 1943 squadron moved to Binbrook, Lincs 15
Father: Charles RUSS
Mother: Jessie Naylor GODDARD
Wife: Ivy Lavinia CABAN died at age: 75
Married: 2 Apr 1930 in Bellingen NSW his age: 21 her age: 18 16,17,18
Born: 12 Apr 1911 in Bellingen NSW 2
Died: 1987 in Bellingen NSW 2
Baptized: 21 May 1911 in C/E Parish Church, Raleigh NSW 2
Religion: Church of England 2
Education: 20 May 1918 Raleigh Public School 2
Education: 17 Dec 1925 finished schooling for work 2
Father: Ambrose Isaac CABAN
Mother: Mary Margaret JACKSON
M Child 1: Stanley Charles RUSS age: 74
Born: 17 May 1930 in Repton NSW 19,2
Resided: 2001 in Urunga NSW
Spouse: Norma WORBOYS b. 23 Mar 1934 d. 19 Jan 1991
Married: 23 Mar 1953 in Bellingen NSW 2
Sources:
(1) DK, 'Michael in 1909', 20.
(2) Jeanette Egan, Family Group Sheet (18 Mar 2000).
(3) DK, 'in the early morning of 4 May 1943, Lancaster A4878 was shot down over
Dortmund, Germany. Among the seven-man crew, all of whom died, was thirty-four
year old navigator Flying Officer Michael Russ', CWGC has 5 May, 95.
(4) DK, 'In April 1927, Michael, fed up with the family and the bleak outlook in
London, enrolled in the Dreadnought Scheme....that sent young men and women to
Australia...in June Michael boarded a steamer for New South Wales', 42.
(5) ABR, 'He had heard about something called "The Dreadnought Scheme", and came
home one day to say he could no longer countenance the narrow confines of an
office, let alone handle the overwhelming desperation and poverty so prevalent
at the time; he had signed up for the Scheme, and was leaving for Australia.
...the Dreadnought scheme, it turned out, had been started by Sir Allan Taylor
of Sydney, to make use of the funds raised by the Australian Navy by
subscription during the First War to build a Dreadnought battleship. The war
was over long before the project was completed, and the remaining funds were to
be used to sponsor young people who wished to leave the U.K. and start new lives
for themselves in a young Commonwealth country desperately short of labour', 25.
(6) NT, On 18 March 1943 he wrote to his sister Olive, who had married and was
living at Ilminster in Dorset, reporting that 'I have now at last met all my
brothers adn sisters in England and am glad to have found the time and
opportunity to do so. Though I have had to live on trains &buses to do it.',
278.
(7) Commonwealth War Graves Commission (www.cwgc.org), 'In Memory of SIDNEY
MICHAEL RUSS
Flying Officer 414506 Royal Australian Air Force
who died on Wednesday, 5th May 1943. Age 32.
Additional Information:
Son of Charles and Jessie Naylor Russ, of Ealing, Middlesex, England.
Commemorative Information
Cemetery: REICHSWALD FOREST WAR CEMETERY,
Germany
Grave Reference/Panel Number: 3. A. 6.
Location:
The cemetery is 5 kilometres south west of Kleve. From Kleve take the
Hoffmannallee from the town centre, which becomes the Materbornerallee. This
road enters Reichswald Forest and becomes the Grunewaldstrasse. Follow the
directions for Gennep, and on entering Reichswald Forest the cemetery is
situated 500 metres on the left.
Historical Information:
There are 7578 1939-1945 Commonwealth war
casualties commemorated here. Of these 161 are unidentified. There are also 79
Foreign National casualties commemorated in this site.'.
(8) NT, 11.
(9) ABR.
(10) NT, 58.
(11) NT, 71.
(12) Jeanette Egan, Family Group Sheet (18 Mar 2000), 'Sidney was a timber
constructor & timber fettler, a bullock driver at Innisfail, Australia and a
cane cutter in Queensland'.
(13) DK, '[June 1940] The following year, Mike, working as a timber contractor in
Queensland, Australia, shaved several years off his age to qualify for the Royal
Australian Air Force', 84.
(14) ABR, 39-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, Defence of Britain, 39-45 Medal,
Australian Service Medal 39-45, 105.
(15) NT, 278.
(16) DK, 'Mike was living the life of a scoundrel...He had previously impregnated
a farmer's teenage daughter, married her a month before she gave birth to a son,
Stanley Charles Russ, and then run out on them to Queensland', 54.
(17) Jeanette Egan, Family Group Sheet (18 Mar 2000), 'in St Margaret's Church'.
(18) ABR, 'Michael and I to Shebbear to complete our educations in a manner
befitting the family name........Shebbear College was started by the Bible
Christians as a school for the sons of ministers to prepare them for entry into
that church...........It had been attended by my father and all six of his
brothers', 18.
(19) DK, 'Mike was living the life of a scoundrel in other ways too. He had
previously impregnated a farmer's teenage daughter, married her a month before
she gave birth to a son, Stanley Charles Russ, and then run out on them to
Queensland', 54.
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