Lives of the First World War

20th October 1918

About twenty years ago my attention was drawn to a lone CWGC Headstone in a local Graveyard, at Julianstown, Co.Meath,Ireland, in memory of 2nd. Lt R W Norris RAF. On subsequent visits I noticed the absence of flowers at the grave side. Though the face of the stone had been skimmed, there was just the small remains of a single rose bush near the base of the Headstone. So began the search to find out who 2nd Lt R W Norris was and why he had been buried in this graveyard. A visit to the RAF Museum and Archives revealed no results but they kindly made available all the information on the construction of the Airfield at Gormanston, near Julianstown. Construction began in 1917 and the airfield became operational in August 1918. Of note also was a notice in the local Drogheda newspaper, from the MOD informing readers that the beach (adjacent to Gormanston airfield) was being used as a bombing range. A visit to the PRO Kew was successful where I obtained R W Norris's War record. This contained his NOK which was his Father residing at Ilfracombe, Devon. An exchange of emails with Ilfracombe Library resulted in a copy of a page from the Ilfracombe Chronicle being posted to me. The page contained an article based on a letter sent to Reginald's father, informing him of his sons tragic death. Reginald had taken off on a training flight and shortly after, the aircraft crashed to the ground. Sixty Officers and two hundred men were present at the funeral. No further research on Reginald's career was possible because permission was required from his present NOK to access Coldstream records. Having made contact with the "Inventory of War Memorials" it became clear that R W Norris was named on the Ilfracombe War Memorial. I visited Reginald's grave, on the 90th anniversary of his death and took a photograph. On subsequent visits, I was pleased to note that flowers and a green laurel wreath had been placed on Reginald's grave.

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