Sergeant John Stenhouse Wood

Sergeant John Stenhouse Wood, Royal Air Force.  He was known as ” Ean” and was killed on an Air Operation to Stettin on 30th August 1944 aged 19. He had been born in Yetholm and was the son of Robert and Lilias Wood of Kirk Yetholm, Roxburghshire and is buried in Helsingborg ( Plasjo ) Cemetery, Sweden. He was a Flight Engineer with 101 Squadron, Bomber Command. 101 Squadron which had converted from flying the Vickers Wellington to the Avro Lancaster in 1942 when they were equipped with a top secret radio jamming system known as “Airborne Cigar”(ABC). They flew with an additional German speaking crew member known as a Special Operator (SO) who disrupted the enemy flight controllers with jamming and broadcasting mis-information. 101 Squadron had a high casualty rate mainly due to the enemy being able to pinpoint their position though the ABC broadcasts and were based at R.A.F. Ludford Magna. A further  46 fellow airmen who failed to return from raids over German occupied territory are also buried in Helsingborg. The Squadron lost three aircraft on that raid. His Headstone is inscribed ” In Proud Memory Of John Our Dearly Loved Only Son Who Gave His Life For Freedom”.