Hi, thanks for reading this. It's a confusing saga, sorry!
My mum in Ireland told me of her Irish cousin 'Harry' Neville who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was killed over Europe in the Second World War. There is no record of a Harry or Henry Neville being killed. My limited research has narrowed down the possible identity of this man to Flight Sergeant Robert Thomas Neville, who was an air gunner killed in 1944. Robert and Thomas were both well-used family names so it's possible he was just known as Harry. F/Sgt Neville is listed as Canadian, but as my mum remembers Harry's Canadian widow visiting Ireland on her way to see his grave in Germany, perhaps he had emigrated to Canada in the Thirties, and was listed as Canadian when he joined up. Perhaps also he was embarassed about Ireland's neutrality and called himself Canadian. (Robert is the only air-crewman called Neville listed as being buried in Germany, so that ties in with my hopes that this is Harry)
Anyway, F/Sgt Robert Thomas Neville was killed with his whole Lancaster crew on the night of Oct 23/24th 1944 on a raid on Essen. He was in Lancaster X KB-776, coded VR-F. His pilot was Sq/Ldr W McGuffin and the rest of the crew were Sgt J Mallabone, F/O R Molloy, F/O J Futiranski, F/Sgt R Schlievert, and F/Sgt E Neufeld. Confusingly, Robert Neville is listed as RCAF in the Canadian War Memorial records, but as RAF in the 6 Group combat records.
So can anyone tell me, have I found Harry??? Thanks a lot!