Yesterday at Poix-du-Nord, France, the brother and family of Fg Off Derek Allen DFC gathered for the dedication of the newly named headstone to Derek Allen after the grave of the unknown aviator at Poix-du-Nord had been identified as that of Allen's. The moving ceremony was conducted by an RAF padre, with the Defence Attache from the Paris Embassy and an RAF bugler also present.
The ceremeny was followed immediately afterwards by the burial of an unknown pilot at nearby Neuvilly (Solesmes) CWGC cemetery. This was also attended by the Allen family. The remains of this unknown pilot had been discovered in the quest for Derek Allen, although that discovery had 'unlocked' the mystery of the grave of the unknown airman who was subsequently identified as Allen.
A very satisfactory outcome to research initiated some four years ago, albeit that a mystery of another RAF pilot has been created.
Whilst the 'missing llink' was found by AHB it might be worth mentioning that the catalyst to the work by AHB followed a great deal of work by private individuals (mostly contributors to this forum), including the tracing of next-of-kin, who co-operated to conduct a pro-active search for Derek Allen in the Neuvilly area. The fruits of that pro-active research was the re-active work by AHB in pulling out casualty reports (ordinarily 'closed' to researchers) to find the link that had been made possible by others.
Here is the RAF News link to the story:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/m...-more-20072012
Again, one is led to suppose that all of this came about due to the 'discovery' by AHB of the facts of this case in their archives - but without acknowledging how this all came about, or what the catalyst for their 'discovery' actually was.
The main thing is that the family now know where derek lies. But......!!