Alfred Donald Hooker

 Sergeant Alfred Donald Hooker, RAFVR – The Only Military Burial at Siloam Chapel, Killay

Contrast with St. Hilary’s Church

Alfred Donald Hooker

While St. Hilary’s Church, Killay, records 25 burials, Siloam Chapel has only one: that of Sergeant Alfred Donald Hooker, a young airman of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who lost his life during the Second World War.

Early Life

Alfred was born in 1925, the youngest son of Alfred Victor Hooker and Mary Ann Richards, who had married in 1916.

1921 Census

The 1921 Census records the Hooker family living on Voz Cart Road, Dunvant. At that time, both parents were 25 years old. Alfred Victor was employed at Killan Colliery, and the couple was raising two children: Dorothy, aged four, and Victor John, aged one.

1939 Register 

By the time of the 1939 Register, the family had moved to 8 Bigfield Terrace, Dunvant. Few official records survive of Alfred’s later civilian life, but like so many young men of his generation, he would soon find himself in uniform, serving his country in its hour of need.

Military Service

Joining the RAFVR

578 Squadron

Alfred enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, where he was posted to 578 Squadron, part of No. 4 Group, Bomber Command. He trained as an air gunner and achieved the rank of Sergeant.

578 Squadron, based at RAF Burn in North Yorkshire, had been formed only in January 1944 and was equipped with the Handley Page Halifax B.III heavy bomber. Although a new unit, it was immediately thrown into the ferocious air war over Germany, flying nightly operations against heavily defended targets.

The Nuremberg Raid

On the night of 30^th–31^st March 1944, Bomber Command mounted what became the most disastrous operation of the war: a raid on the Nazi rally city of Nuremberg. The attack was launched despite bright moonlight and warnings from weather reconnaissance flights that no protective cloud cover would be present. A total of 795 aircraft were dispatched—572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes, and nine Mosquitos.

Halifax BIII

Among these were 22 Halifaxes from 578 Squadron, including Halifax BIII LW478, carrying Sergeant Hooker. Conditions on the night gave the German night-fighter force a significant advantage. The bomber stream was intercepted even before reaching Belgium, and a running battle raged for over an hour in the clear, moonlit sky. Losses were catastrophic: 82 aircraft were destroyed en route and near the target, with 95 lost in total—over 11 percent of the force—and nearly 700 airmen killed or missing. The bombing itself caused little damage to Nuremberg, and the raid came to symbolise the terrible risks faced by the young men of Bomber Command.

For 578 Squadron, the night was particularly costly: five of its 22 aircraft failed to return, almost a quarter of those dispatched. One of them was Halifax LW478.

Halifax BIII LW478 – Crew and Tragedy

Halifax BIII LW478, codenamed LK-S, took off from RAF Burn at 22:03 on 30th March 1944. After surviving the raid itself, the aircraft was diverted on its return due to poor weather and attempted an emergency landing at RAF Silverstone in Northamptonshire. Tragically, on approach, the Halifax struck the high masts of the Assisted Safe Landing Equipment system and crashed into a nearby field.

Of the eight-man crew, seven were either killed outright or fatally injured. Only the mid-upper gunner survived. The men who perished were:

• Squadron Leader Maurice McCreanor – Pilot
• Sergeant Alexander William McLennan – Second Pilot
• Pilot Officer Thomas Arthur Evans – Navigator
• Flight Sergeant Thomas Walton Thompson – Bomb Aimer (aged 32)
• Sergeant Ronald Maton – Wireless Operator (aged 23)
• Pilot Officer Charles Albert Donovan – Flight Engineer (aged 27)
• Sergeant Alfred Donald Hooker – Rear Gunner (aged 19), who succumbed to his injuries on 9^th April 1944

Halifax BILL LW478 
Memorial
Silverstone
credit - Richard E Flagg

Their sacrifice is commemorated by a memorial plaque at Silverstone, which bears their names as a lasting reminder of the price they paid.

Death & Burial

Sergeant Hooker’s body was brought home to Killay, where he was laid to rest in the grounds of Siloam Chapel. His is the only military burial in that chapel, standing in contrast to the 25 burials at nearby St. Hilary’s Church.

Legacy

Alfred Donald Hooker
Siloam Chapel, Killay
credit - findagrave

Alfred’s grave is unusual in that it does not bear a military headstone, unlike many of his wartime comrades. Yet his story represents the thousands of young men of Bomber Command whose lives were cut short during the air war over Europe.

Though he lived only 19 years, Alfred Donald Hooker’s service with 578 Squadron, and his death following the disastrous Nuremberg Raid, ensure that he is remembered as part of one of the most tragic chapters in the history of the Royal Air Force. His resting place at Siloam Chapel remains a solitary but poignant reminder of sacrifice within the local community of Killay.