Tag: RAF Malta

Following the Echoes: Hold On to Those Old Letters

Posted on by Claudia Fox Reppen in Following the Echoes
Graduation photo James “Norman” Lillico from Bombing and Gunnery School, November 10, 1941.
Photo: Courtesy of Lillico family.

PREVIOUS POSTS IN THIS SERIES:

On this Canada Day, in a new (and long overdue) update, my brother and co-author, Lance Fox, and I are pleased to share that we have been able to uncover additional information related to Following the Echoes.

The time around Remembrance Day seems to be the season that keeps on giving, and on November 11 of last year, it was the great-grandson of someone featured in the book and an earlier blog post who followed an echo and found us.

In my October 2023 post “The Others,” which featured several individuals in the book whose relatives we hoped to connect with, I mentioned James “Norman” Lillico, a dear friend of Wendell “Del” Drew from their time together in the RCAF.

Continue reading “Following the Echoes: Hold On to Those Old Letters” →

Following the Echoes: Into the Abyss

Posted on by Claudia Fox Reppen in English Posts, Following the Echoes, Uncategorized

See also:

In the latest installment of Following the Echoes, it’s been quite a week of developments related to some of the individuals featured in my earlier post “The Others.” There will be more to follow, but this post is dedicated to the crew members of Wellington HX726, of which Wendell “Del” Drew was the sole survivor when their plane crashed at Luqa, Malta, on February 13, 1943.

Recently, my brother and co-author, Lance Fox, and I were able to connect with Cate Wagstaffe. Just like Del Drew, Cate’s British great-uncle, Warrant Officer John Michael Wagstaffe, served with 458 RAAF Squadron on Malta. And, like Del, he was involved in a crash there. Unlike Del, however, Wagstaffe did not survive: he and four of his crewmates were killed on April 19, 1944.

Continue reading “Following the Echoes: Into the Abyss” →