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Rededication ceremonies held in Belgium for RAF aviators killed during World War One

30 Jun 2022

Aviators look down during service.
Members of XI(F) Squadron RAF Coningsby pay their respects.

Two services were held in Belgium yesterday, to rededicate the final resting place of three Royal Air Force aviators who lost their lives during the final months of World War One.

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The services were organised by the Ministry of Defence Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre. They were held for Second Lieutenant Henry George Pike, of 65 Squadron, who went missing on 30th August 1918, and Second Lieutenants Alan Thompson Watt Boswell and Robert Percy Gundill, of 108 Squadron, who were killed on 2nd October 1918.

Headstones with flowers and union jack flags.
Newly engraved headstones for Second Lieutenant Boswell and Second Lieutenant Gunhill.

The rededication ceremonies were attended by members of their family, including Russell Evans, the great-nephew of Second Lieutenant Boswell, and Helen Towler, the great-great-niece of Second Lieutenant Pike.

Aviator and civilian among headstones.
Helen Towler, great great of niece of Second Lieutenant Pike receives the Union Flag.

The services were conducted by Reverend (Squadron Leader) Klos, and supported by personnel from XI (F) Squadron, now based at RAF Coningsby. The grave of Second Lieutenant Pike was rededicated at the Larch Wood (Railway Crossing) Cemetery, and the graves of Second Lieutenant Boswell and Second Lieutenant Gundill were rededicated at the Duhallow Advanced Dressing Station Cemetery, both near Ypres and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

"It was a really moving service and I am really privileged and proud to have been asked to attend and represent the family. I am really glad that the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the wider Ministry of Defence community still remember our fallen from the Great War and it is really reassuring to know that if anything ever happened to our soldiers of today, they would never be forgotten."

Helen Towler
Great-great-niece of Second Lieutenant Pike

Reverend under a tree.
Reverend Klos delivers the service for Second Lieutenant Pike.

Second Lieutenant Pike, who was 23 years old and from London, lost his life when he failed to return to his aerodrome in his Sopwith Camel D9482, after flying an escort mission for DH9 aircraft who were operating against targets at Bruges, Ostend, and Zeebrugge.

Image shows headstones with flower bed.
New headstone for Second Lieutenant Pike.

Second Lieutenant Boswell, aged 28 and from London, and Second Lieutenant Gundill, aged 21 and from West Yorkshire, were flying in a DH9 1080 and didn’t return from a bombing raid on the area of Menin. All had previously served in the British Army, before joining the Royal Flying Corps, which merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. 

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