John William “Jack” Kearley, a gas fitter’s apprentice born in Lewisham, had been living with his maternal grandparents in Rochester when war was declared. In July 1938, while a student at Medway Technical College, Rochester, he achieved a First Class pass in his Gas Fitting Practical S2 examination. Shortly after his 18th birthday, he enlisted in the RAF under the National Service Act of 1939, which required all men aged between 18 and 41 to undertake military service.
By March 1944, Jack was serving as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner with 115 Squadron, based at RAF Witchford near Ely. On the evening of 24 March 1944, he joined a crew of seven aboard Lancaster II LL730, one of eighteen aircraft tasked with bombing Berlin.
Soon after take-off, the aircraft was attacked by a German night-fighter, likely a Ju 88. The strike set the bomb bay ablaze. Bomb Aimer Sgt Eric Meikle managed to release the load, but the bomb doors jammed open, and the aircraft began to lose height. The pilot turned toward neutral Sweden in the hope of escape.
Believing they were over the Baltic Sea, the crew pressed on. In reality, they were over frozen land near Kröpelin. With the aircraft failing, Sgt Meikle bailed out at around 900 metres. As he descended, he saw the Lancaster explode and crash.
He was the sole survivor, later taken prisoner. The remaining crew, including 21-year-old Jack, were killed in the crash:
- W/O Ronald Howells
- Sgt John William “Jack” Kearley
- Sgt James Arthur Morris
- F/Sgt Montagu Arnold Ward
- Sgt Thomas Colbeck Watson
- F/Sgt Ieuan Glyndwyr Williams (pilot)
They were initially buried together on the Baltic coast at Rerik West, alongside five other victims from a British aircraft lost the previous month. Contemporary reports suggest that only one of the crew, Sgt James Arthur Morris, could be formally identified, the severity of the crash having made identification of the others, including Jack, impossible. All eleven airmen were therefore laid to rest in a collective grave.
After the war, the remains of all eleven were moved to Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery (Heerstrasse), where they were reburied on 9 July 1948 in a collective grave.
Jack’s story is one of many from the Gas Company memorial – young men who left ordinary working lives for service and did not return. Some, like him, were laid to rest far from home in collective graves, their individual identities lost in the devastation of war.
Sergeant John William “Jack” Kearley’s remains were interred in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
