Graham Aeron Alcock – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 10 Squadron

Sergeant Graham Aeron Alcock – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 10 Squadron

Early Life

Graham Aeron Alcock

William Alcock and Margaret Jane Lloyd marraige certificate St John‑juxta‑Swansea

Born in 1921 at Gorseinon, Graham Aeron Alcock was the son of William Alcock and Margaret Jane Lloyd, who married in 1904 at St John‑juxta‑Swansea. His early years were spent within the developing Garden Village community, where many families were connected to the tinplate and steel industries of the Loughor estuary.

Family Life (1921 Census)

1921 Census

By the 1921 Census, the Alcock family were living at 15 Garden Crescent, Garden Village, Gorseinon. William, aged 38, Norfolk‑born, was employed as a Boiler Stoker at The Mardy Tinplate Works, though recorded as out of work at the time of the census. Margaret Jane, aged 40, undertook home duties. Their children present were M. Vesta (15), A. Leslie (14), C. John (12), S. K. Trevor (9), M. Margaret (7), Doreen (2), and G. Aeron (5 months), forming a large household typical of Garden Village families during the early twentieth century.

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V

Military Service

Graham Aeron Alcock served as a Sergeant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, attached to 10 Squadron, based at RAF Leeming, Yorkshire. He served as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner aboard the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V, one of the RAF’s principal long‑range bombers during the early years of the Second World War.

Graham Aeron Alcock
Kingsbridge Cemetery credit - findagrave

Death

On 1 July 1941, Graham was killed when his Whitley V was shot down by an enemy intruder near Thetford, Norfolk, while returning from a raid on Duisburg. Of the crew, two survived, while Graham and fellow airman Alan Reid Beveridge were killed. Beveridge was buried at Dunbarney Cemetery, marking the shared loss felt across two distant communities.

Burial

Graham’s body was brought home to Swansea, where he was laid to rest at Kingsbridge Cemetery, joining the growing number of local servicemen whose wartime service ended far from home but whose families ensured their return to familiar soil.