Lancaster PB265 FOUND !!!

I just found this forum. I was searching for information on Robert J. Sarvis. I have a lot of his items such as Purple heart, Air Medal, papers, pictures while in England, pcitures while in college. He was a Canadian and came to Middle Tennessee to go to college. He was a football player. One of the Black Sheep squadron was on his team and in the final big game threw a winning pass. The pass was caught by the First Pacific ace. Anyway, Sarvis married a local girl. She apparently moved back to Canada and lived with or near his parents. I also have the downed crew report. He left college and joined the RACF, then went to the USAAF when we entered the war and became an american citizen. Please contact me.

 

Hi 82nd Trax
please Pm me if possible. I have just received F/O Sarvis military records. Simon

 

I am new to this forum and lost as last years easter egg in high grass. How do you pm someone?

 

I may have been incorrect in that previous post. He apparently joined the army while in Murfreesboro, TN. He did become a citizen of the US. He may have been loaned to the RACF.

 

Welcome 82nd. I will ask our administrator to activate your pm ability. Usually there is a probation time for newbies , but we"ll skip this for now. regards.

 

Thanks and I do appreciate it.

 

Your pm ability has been activated by Slipdigit. You should be able to contact us . I will visit Mr Pierre tomororow and will see the parachute with my own eyes. I will possibly bring back documents and pictures.

 

Well, I'm back from a visit to mr Pierre's home. He lent me his files about PB265 and permission to scan the whole thing ( with hiding names and addresses when displayed in public of course) . I will take a while but the archive sclearly solve the mystery. Friendly A.A. or nightfigter? Well it was both! there was a first attack by aNightfighter over Orleans , this is where Balfour bailed out. Then Sarvis attempted dto fly back to the Normandy Bridgehead, but the A.A. from Carentan ddin't expect an aircraft above their heads and finished him off instead. The Lnacaster was hit over and over again , five members bailed out and the Pilot Sarvis stayed in the aircraft and crashed with it. He attemted to land it in a field but their was a samll stream with a line of trees that stopped the Lanc which tipped over and fell on the back in a moor where it sunk in a swamp.

 

Enclosed is a pile of window slices that were still in the aircraft in many boxes. Mr Pierre took a whole bunch of them home in 1990 and gave me the ones on the pictures. So these are true relics from PB265!

 

I have gone through all the paperwork and pictures that I have from Sarvis. I have a lot of the same pictures posted by Simon. I also have a group shot and it has Wier id'd on it. I have several local newspapers dated 1945 that discuss his death. His wife was from this area. According to what I have found in the newspaper articles. He came from Canada and actually graduated High School in Nashville. He then went to Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU - known at that time as MTSC). He played football and was one of the stars. He married in 1939 to a local girl.

He apparently tried to join the service. There is an enlistment record on NARA. However, I am pretty sure they would not let him as he was still a Canadian Citizen. I found a newspaper article that supports this. I will try to scan later but it states:
Mr. Sarvis leaves tomorrow for Toronto, Canada, where he will enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Mrs. Sarvis plans to remain in Tennessee until the close of the present school term.

Then found the following article:
Along with twenty-three mid state men, Lts. Schleicher, Willis and Scates received their wings in the U. S. Army. Bob Sarvis being a 100 percent American citizen of the United States at heart but not legally (he was born in Canada), wanted to be a member of our armed forces along with the above mentioned fellows, but being unable to do that , is doing the next best thing-he is in Toronto, Canada, getting into the RACF. Keep 'em flying, Bob!

In the 1945 newspaper article about his death, I found this:
The 28 year old-airman who served with the British RAF for several years before being declared an American citizen, was transferred to the American Air Force later but continued to fly a British plane because of his previous experience.

 

Mrs. Sarvis received her husband's air medal at a ceremony in Smyrna, TN. I have the newspaper article about the ceremony. It was presented by Major General J. A. Ulio. Smyrna was an airbase during the war and still continues to be today. There is also a letter from Flight Sergeant Gordon, describing the events of the crash up to the point he baled out. I will try to scan this so everyone can read it. It is a long article.

As I mentioned in the previous post I have many pictures of what appear to be training and in England. There are notes on the back of some. I have the telegram where Mrs. Sarvis was notified that her husband is missing. There are also letters from various officials about his death.

There is a Purple Heart certificate and medal as well as the air medal and certificate.
I will take pics of them and post today if possible. I just have to figure out how to load the pics.

 

Simon
I would like to get copies of some of the records you have and will be glad to share some of mine. I sent a pm but never got a response. I hope you got it, if not let me know.
Robert

 

Here is a couple of pics. I will not be able to actually scan the pictures until next week.

 

I went by and took this picture today. This the house where Sarvis' wife lived at the time of his death. I am pretty sure she lived here with her parents as I have her brother giving the same address. I also think Sarvis and his wife lived here with his wife's parents before he joined the RCAF.

 

Hi folks, been working away in Edinburgh and not been online. Robert, pm messaged you earlier. This is an amazing story and is getting even more interesting by the day! Thanks for everybody on this and other forums help so far. Will keep you posted!!

 

Simon
Got the pm and sent you a couple more. This story is fascinating. A guy wrote a story back in November 2009 about Sarvis' football team. I talked with him today and we are going to try to do a follow up story on Sarvis for the local newspaper in Murfreesboro.

 

was there a posting to do with the pilot's uniform being stolen? cant find it

 

It happened though. I didn't want to mention this sas news, but some scumbag stole what was left of the uniform before it was secured by the searching team and the local authorities. It couldn't have been much though, but just the thought makes me mad.

 

Thanks Skipper. Can you pm me the story? Just adds to the overbearing sadness of this whole tale, hence my urgency to find out all i can.

 

I will , I just returned from Holland a few hours ago but as soon as I have time I will