James Edward Vernon

James Edward Vernon was a New Zealander, born on 21 August 1915 at Roxburgh in Central Otago, the son of George Mathew and Margaret Jamima Vernon of Glenorchy. He served as a pilot (commissioned officer, service number 36145) with No. 150 Squadron, part of 71 Wing of the Advanced Air Striking Force, flying the Fairey Battle light bomber during the Battle of France. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for an action ten days before his death: tasked with attacking a German headquarters in the Ardennes, his Battle was set upon by enemy fighters and forced down, after which he helped his wounded crewmen clear the aircraft and set it alight before evading capture and making his way back to his unit. On 7 June 1940, during a sortie against German road columns in the Poix–Abbeville area, his Fairey Battle (serial L5288) was hit and crashed near the village of Vergies in northern France; he was killed at the age of 24, together with his two crewmen, Sergeants George William Clawley and Jack Frederick Atkins. The three airmen are buried together in Vergies Communal Cemetery, where Vernon lies in Row 1, Grave 21.