A Canadian Flier Observes Operation Avalanche, Sept. 9, 1943
On his way 'somewhere else', John Vasicek saw 'something else'
From The Montreal Star, Sept. 9, 1943 (on microfiche, UWO)
You would be correct in saying that, as a personal interest, I collect and display or present information that is in some way related to my father's World War II experiences as a young Canadian in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve and Combined Operations.
For example, I am currently reviewing copies of The Montreal Star, hoping to find stories that connect well with the time my father was manning and operating landing crafts (between Messina, Sicily and Reggio Calabria, on the toe of the boot in Italy) with the 80th Canadian Flotilla from late August to early October, 1943.
And I'm having some good and bad luck. I am finding stories that mention the work done by the 80th Flotilla (upcoming; some kind words of recognition from Canada's Prime Minister) but I have not found much from Sholto Watts, war correspondent from The Star who may have accompanied my father and/or his close mates on one trip across the Messina Strait to Reggio... sometime in September. Searching with a fine-tooth comb describes my attitude at the moment and I think I'll find success eventually.
That being said, one cannot search old newspapers without finding stories of great interest - stories that stoke one's imagination about war-like conditions (e.g., for my father) at the time of discovery and then prompt the desire for more information. Last year I found a wee clipping about a Navy casualty (Lloyd. G. Campbell) and it turned out to be one of my father's mates, seriously wounded during the Dieppe raid. My search for more information led me to surviving members of Lloyd's family and exact details re his navy records and his final resting place.
Last week a short newspaper article about a Chatham flier - age 20 at the time - caught my eye, subsequently fired my imagination and led me on a personal adventure. The adventure is not yet complete but the beginning and the middle and the promise for more is here.
FO John Anthony Vasicek, Chatham, Ontario
While sitting upon a solid wooden chair in front of a computer screen, scrolling through microfilm at the University of Western Ontario, my eyes quickly scan darkened photos and dozens of headlines and sub-headlines, and occasionally they stop on a key word (a word that might unlock a door), then search for a related line of text that might give me pause to read a full paragraph or more.
The rest of the world could march past my chair at such times when I find a meaty paragraph and I would not bother to notice. A fire alarm might budge me, but only after I clicked on "Save to USB" and retrieved the stick.
Last week I spotted "Naples Force..." and "...Swarm With Sea Craft... Sept. 9" (my father operated landing crafts south of Naples, at Reggio, in early September), dropped my eyes to "Allied landings" and "assault barges... large formations" and pressed 'pause' in my brain. Read the article, I thought. If the story was typed up a few days earlier then Dad was there.
Somehow, however, I felt there was some connection between the 20-year-old Chatham, Ontario flier and the 23-year-old Navy boy (Dad had turned 23 on September 6) from Norwich, Ontario. John's story - the first eye witness account of the Allied landings - lined up with Operation Baytown (the first Allied landing in Italy, September 3), so I saved the story to USB and added it to the mix of stories that I posted a few days ago, on November 7.
At some point in time, between finding the news article and posting it on my blog/website, I felt that it had a meaning that went beyond being a small part of the Nov. 7 post.
"How many Vasiceks could there be? It's a rare name, easier to find in the phone book compared to Smith or Campbell. Are there members of John's family still alive? Would they appreciate this story, receiving a copy? Chatham is an hour's drive down the highway. I've got a car." Other thoughts breezed through my mind.
I googled John's full name and found a Chatham-Kent memorial page (re WW1 and WW2 Enlistments) dedicated to his memory. On it I learned more about his family, e.g., his parents' names, when he came to Canada from Moravia, Czechoslovakia, and more, e.g., he had 3 siblings - Mary Ann, Lloyd, Charles.
Most of the information on the Memorial page is provided below. One will see it includes details from the newspaper article I have already displayed (I shortened those sections). One will also see, in the final 3 paragraphs (in italics), other details about John are provided, including information about his last flight:
* * *
Rank - Flying Officer (FO)
Service # J/13034
Unit # 683 Sqdn., RCAF
Son of Stephen and Mary Annie (nee Bartosek) Vasicek, of R.R.#1 Mull, Ontario, Canada. Brother of Mary Ann, Lloyd, Charles. John was born at Moravia in Czechoslovakia in 1923 and came to Canada with his parents in 1924. He was a student at the Zion public school and Chatham Vocational School for four years. John was a farmer in Harwich Twsp., north of Blenheim.
John enlisted at Windsor, ON in the RCAF 13 Sept. 1941. His mother had passed away in 1940.
John Anthony Vasicek graduated as a Pilot Officer in September, 1942 at RCAF – Montreal at the head of his class.
The CDN 9/09/42 reported that (after) a flight over the Naples district a Canadian flier said, “the whole area of approximately 1,000 square miles was swarming with an invasion fleet”. FO John Anthony Vasicek 20 year old Spitfire pilot from Chatham, ON. brought back the first eyewitness account of the Allied landings...
“Through the haze I suddenly saw what at first appeared to be a moderately large amount of shipping”, he said. “The ships varied in size from assault barges to warships. The barges were sailing in dozens and dozens of large formations..."
John’s father Stephan was notified in early February, 1944 that his son was missing after operations. He presumed that this was in the Mediterranian theatre of war. He was flying in an RAF squadron for several months assisting in the invasion of Sicily and Italy. CDN 2/02/44(P)
Age: 22, KIA – Date of Death: 18/01/1944. Flying Spitfire fighter EN 504 on reconnaissance flight for the 5th Army. He crashed south of Garigliano, Italy. The aircraft was seen to go into a spiral dive and F/O Vasicek bailed-out at 100 feet but he made no apparent effort to open his parachute. The crash is believed to have been caused by a lack of oxygen and not due to enemy action.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead, Grave/Memorial Reference: IV, K, 2. Cemetery: MINTURNO WAR CEMETERY. “The First 200 Years” by Alvin Armstrong*. Index of Overseas Deaths. They Shall Grow Not Old. Blenheim IODE Tablet of Remembrance, MCWI. CDN-Obit (sister Mary Ann) 15/09/14.
*Editor: John is also mentioned among a list of those who volunteered to serve in WW2 in a book called “The First 200 Years of Blenheim and South Harwich” by Alvin Armstrong, Page 204.
* * *
After locating another online reference to Mr. Vasicek ("The First 200 Years") I searched an online phonebook for Chatham and found two Vasiceks in the Blenheim area and their phone numbers. I left messages for Terry V. and Charles V., that I had information pertaining to a possible relative going back to the invasion of Italy, 1943.
* * *
After locating another online reference to Mr. Vasicek ("The First 200 Years") I searched an online phonebook for Chatham and found two Vasiceks in the Blenheim area and their phone numbers. I left messages for Terry V. and Charles V., that I had information pertaining to a possible relative going back to the invasion of Italy, 1943.
Charles Vasicek, John's younger brother (now 92-years-old) returned my call that same evening and we made arrangements to meet on the upcoming Saturday, Nov. 9. I believe the visit was very rewarding for Charles and his wife Bessie, and for myself. We each learned new things about John and I left feeling that there is still more to learn... and appreciate and remember.
Briefly, though the Vasiceks had seen two news clippings, one identical to The Montreal Star, they had not seen the paragraphs in italics above. Charles stood silently beside me as he read the details about his brother's final flight. Surely his mind travelled back to 1944 in that instant and was intimately linked once more to his brother, the Spitfire pilot, as he tumbled from his plane.
We shared a few words. He didn't open his chute. He was unconscious from lack of oxygen. "I never knew that," he said, pointing to the words.
Charles later said that John was crazy about airplanes as a young lad. He built many an airplane on his family farm and at one time said, "If I only get to fly once, if my plane should crash on its first flight, it would all be worth it."
I was shown copies of pages from John's flight log and two news articles and a death certificate from the National Department of Defence (dated January 18, 1944). I only looked for two particular entries in the log, and photographed them, feeling that was enough at the time. Now I am not so sure.
A Few Photos:
Sept. 9 news report atop Sept. 9 flight log
Above news clip is from unknown Canadian newspaper
FO Vasicek's flight log for Ops 23, dated September 9, 1943.
The newspaper reports Vasicek's location as "the Naples district" but our flier sees "our (Allied) invasion fleet in Gulf of Salerno" (i.e., Operation Avalanche, 6 days after Operation Baytown at Reggio di Calabria).
The bay of Naples (Napoli) is to the left of the bay of Salerno in the map below. And one can see the city of Foggia (Vasicek's reconn assignment) on the opposite side of the Italian peninsula, north-east of Salerno.
Canadians in Combined Ops, working aboard landing craft - loading and unloading troops and the materiel of war - were about 275 miles farther south-east (by Army jeep) at Reggio di Calabria on the 9th.
At the time of my visit with Charles and Bessie I was also interested in another date in John's flight log, i.e., September 3, the date of the initial invasion of Italy. Ops 21, from that date, is described briefly - after a "not very successful sortie" - in the photo of John's log below:
In my opinion, the Allied invasion fleet would have been well outside
FO Vasicek's line of sight even if skies had not been "cloud covered"
The following news article is also from the collection of Charles and Bessie Vasicek of the Blenheim area. It may be from a different newspaper than the first article, i.e., "Sees Invasion" above. Though it displays the same photo of John, it is set in a different type-face or font and it appears to be from a newspaper out of Blenheim. At the least, it constitutes a story out of the Blenheim area about 100 km. from my home in London, Ontario.
As one can see, several lines and pieces of information from the above article also appear in the afore-mentioned Chatham-Kent Memorial page. Taken together we know something of John's birth, his early move to Canada, his attendance at particular schools in the Blenheim and Chatham area, his religious background, where he took his early training and where he "received his wings."
Charles and Bessie have copies of John's flying records
Though surviving members of John's family have excellent photographic and written records of John's career, more than most surviving families (a modern-day Czech magazine contains a very well organized and several-page spread of John's experiences), I feel that something is missing.
We have the MIA (Missing In Action) news report from Blenheim, Feb. 2, 1944. It is referred to on the Chatham-Kent Memorial page and attributed to CDN 2/02/44(P).
However, we only have snippets from a KIA (Killed In Action) report (i.e., He crashed south of Garigliano, Italy. The aircraft was seen to go into a spiral dive and F/O Vasicek bailed-out at 100 feet...), with no reference given to a source.
It may not be possible to find more information pertaining to John Anthony Vasicek but I will give it a try, and if success is met, I will add findings to this post.
My interest is already further piqued after a second look at entries on the flight log that were beneath the Sept. 9, 1943 entry:
Two Ops and an Air test are listed for Sept. 13 - 16
Here is a close up of John's hand-written report for the three days listed:
Ops 24 was a successful sortie over Rome and its M/Yards (munitions, Marshalling troops?), but two days later, during an Air test, not only did the fuel in the Spitfire freeze at 30,000 feet but John landed in the dark. So, we are briefly introduced to some of the dangers related to flying in a mountainous war zone. Ops 25 appears to be positive at the outset (Recco or reconnaissance photos were taken of a battle strip - possibly the battle front - in the Salerno Battle Area. But John endured a crash landing - "turned a/craft on its back." Fortunately, though the plane was a "complete wreck" John was "unhurt."
Conditions for flying did not seem to improve during the next two flights.
I do not have the complete entries for those dates but one can read "fluctuation, not developing full R.P.M., unsuccessful attempt (over Rome), A/C (aircraft) throwing..." Nothing good in those entries, I believe.
One could surely learn more about troubles with the aircraft in wartime conditions and high altitudes in John's report, so they are well worth a thorough look. And some of the entries or a full KIA report or another news article might more fully explain the conditions related to John's unfortunate death.
Photos are from the collection of Charles and Bessie Vasicek
Last entry in John's flight log
Edith Harrison was my mother. 1923 - 2000. GH
Editor's Note: Entered here Jan. 23, 2020. While combing The Montreal Star (October 12, 1943 issue) I read about the issue of a medal that applies to servicemen and women who died during hostilities, e.g., FO John Vasicek of Chatham. Did his parents receive this medal? If not, the medal should be awarded to his surviving family members, e.g., Charles Vasicek, Chatham ONT.
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