Recently I had the privilege to make a personal visit to a grave of a man killed on the 6th June 1944, I have the permission from his sister to share this story and it is who I was with for the visit. Her brother was Cyril Cooper Stubbins, 19 years of age. 
Cyril was part of the 7th Parachute Battalion, British 6th Airborne Division. Photographed here in April ‘44. They would drop in to Normandy to the east of the River Orne and Caen Canal. Photograph cc- Paradata
Cyril would jump from a Sterling Bomber and then head towards the river and canal bridges before crossing over and then forming a defensive perimeter around the villages of Benouville and Le Port. Photograph cc- daily mail
Cyril along with 19 other men from the 7th Battalion would board there Sterling at RAF Fairford in the evening of the 5th June. Photograph cc- daily mail
Janet, who was cyrils younger sister said that the family only ever had rumours of what took place on the night of the 6th June, they had never been able to confirm. She said to me,
“this will likely be my last visit to him.”
“this will likely be my last visit to him.”
Her mother had visited France a few years after his death and met a local mayor at Dives Sur Mer who said the plane had crashed. She was shown tree’s still scorched and a gap missing to where it was said to have come down. No other details were known to the family.
Janet even said that after he should have landed they had no word on Cyril until February ‘45. They believed he may have even not gone out to France instead going ‘AWOL’ as he may have been scared of what to come. They did learn that wasn’t the case.
Cyril was on flight EF.268, chalk 154. Piloted by Flying Officer Caskey of the Royal Canadian Airforce photographed here with the rest of the flight and ground crew. He is kneeling down on the left. His crew would die with him on the 6th June.
As EF.268 flew in over the Normandy coastline close to Cabourg it was hit by AA fire and went down on the outskirts of Dives Sur Mer. Not far from the Houlgate Battery.
The flight was recorded as missing and it wasn’t until September ‘44 that work began to try and identify the circumstances of the crash and the men who were onboard. Photograph cc- ladives1944.com
It was ascertained that it was flight EF.268 and that it had come down colliding with tree’s. All men had died, the local french villagers had come to the crash site and buried the dead. Personal effects had been collected and later returned so they could be passed back.
The report made in February ‘45 gives a graphic account of what the crash site would have been like. The French took care to give these men a place of rest. Photograph cc- ladives1944.com
On the 7th June ‘44 the crash site was also captured in photographs taken above of where the operations had taken place. Here you can see the crash site and the scorch marks on the earth. Photograph cc- ladives1944.com
The men were exhumed in February ‘45 and now all lie at rest in the La Delivrande War Cemetery. There was no graves concentration report attached so research was required to narrow the above information down.
Cyril is buried in a row that contains all the men of flight EF.268. Janet made her pilgrimage to visit him and then all information that could be found was given to her later that night. She says she finally has closure on her brother’s death.
All the stories the family had said over the years had now been found true and that he had died carrying out a brave act. She had never forgotten her brother, 75 years on. It was an honour to be with her on this pilgrimage. This is why we do what we do as guides, humbling.
Thank you to all those who provided snippets of help last week, as a community people with a passion for history this is what happens when we work together and share knowledge. For more information check out ladives1944.com
As I researched, this bought to light information on a further three Sterling’s bombers that were shot down that night by AA Fire as they came over the coast. I’ll give more in this later in the week.
