Derek Harland Ward

Derek Harland Ward was born on 31 July 1917 in Whangārei, New Zealand, the son of Dr Sidney Harland Ward and Margaret Emilie Ward. He qualified as a pilot with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in December 1937 and transferred to the Royal Air Force on a short-service commission the following year, joining No. 151 Squadron at RAF North Weald on Hawker Hurricanes. In May 1940 he moved to No. 87 Squadron and flew through the fighting over France and the subsequent Battle of Britain, destroying enemy aircraft over both theatres. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in October 1941 for his combat record in France and his work leading night-defence operations; he then took command of No. 73 Squadron in Egypt, and in May 1942 earned a Bar to his DFC following a low-level strafing attack on Barce airfield during which he was credited with a total of six enemy aircraft destroyed. On 17 June 1942, while his squadron was returning to base critically short of fuel over the Libyan desert, they were set upon by Messerschmitt Bf 109s led by the German ace Oberleutnant Hans-Joachim Marseille, and Ward — who had turned back to cover pilots parachuting from stricken aircraft — was shot down and killed near Gambut; he was twenty-four years old. He is buried at Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt, in grave 1.C.10.