Commerations - Carnegie Heritage Centre

Commemorations

*From the collection of* ***Stewart Would****. The funeral procession.*

*From the collection of* ***Stewart Would****. Bearers with one of the victims.*

*From* ***Darren Howlett’s*** *collection. Mr. J.H. Grout (on left), Capt. Hussey, U.S.N (middle), Air Vice-Marshal Sir. Vyell Vyvyan (on right).*

*From* ***Christine Moore’s*** *collection. Survivors at the service at Hull Western Cemetery in 1924. Flt Lt Archibald Wann and Mr Harry Bateman and Corporal Walter Potter.*

*Press clipping from the Hull Daily Mail.*

*Press clipping from the Hull Daily Mail. Ten bodies of the British Aviators were sent to be buried in their home towns. A memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey in September 1921.*

Nine of the British crew were laid to rest in Hull’s Western Cemetery where there is a monument to commemorate this event. Men buried in this grave are shown with a + against their name.

British Pathé footage from 1921 shows the “Funeral of airship victims including Air Commodore Maitland and some of the R.38’s crew buried with great displays of marching and flowers”.

*From* ***Darren Howletts*** *collection. Floral tributes to the airship victims.*

*From the collection of* ***Stewart Would****. Part of the funeral procession.*

*From the collection of* ***Stewart Would****. Soldiers slow marching in the procession. Note the reverse slope arms rifle arrangement, inverted and pointing backwards and down.*

*From the collection of* ***Darren Howlett****. The procession passing City Hall in Hull.*

*The funeral of Aircraftsman Charles William Penson, aged 23, at Sleaford. Attribution unknown.*

Inscription on the plaque located at St Mary’s Church, Elloughton:To the Glory of God and in affectionate rememberance of Commander L. H. Maxfield, Lt Commander E.W.Coil, Lt Commander V.N. Bieg, Lieutenent C. G. Little, officers of the United States Navy who gave their lives in the disaster to the Air-ship R 38, 24th August 1921.“In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; and their departure is taken for misery and their going from us to be utter destruction but they are at peace.”

Wisdom III 2,3.

*The inscription on the memorial in Hull’s Western Cemetery bears the names of the US victims.*

The bodies of 14 of the 16 U.S. Navy personnel were flown back to the United States to be buried on their home turf. Lieutenant Coil had requested to be buried at sea from the British Light Cruiser, Dauntless.

J.T. Handcock was buried in England.

The funeral of Commander Maxfield

From the caption on the rear of the photograph, shown right: The last shots being fired over the grave of Commander Louis H. Maxfield, at Arlington Cemetery, who was to have commanded the ZR-2 on its flight to America., but who fell to death with the ship in England. Mrs. Harriet Page Maxfield, of Washington, widow of the Commander and her two children accompanied the body from Cardiff.

Comdr. Louis H. Maxfield, U.S.N, who was in charge of the U.S. Rigid Air Detachment in training at Howden, and who was to be the Commanding Officer of the ill-fated airship on the flight to America, was born in 1883 at St. Paul, Minnesota. He entered the Naval Aviation service in 1914, and was promoted to Temporary Commander in 1918. During the War he was in command of the U.S. Naval Station at Painbaeuf, France, and served with distinction.

Comdr. Maxfield was decorated by the Italian Red Cross with a silver medal for distinguished work during the Messina earthquake, with the French Naval Life-saving Medal (Silver), was an Officer of the Legion of Honour, and was decorated by the U.S. Government with the Navy Cross and the Victory Medal.

He was designated Naval Aviator #17 (LTA) in 1915.

Louis was survived by his wife and two children; he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

British Pathé footage from 1921 shows “The coffin of one of the U.S. victims of the R-38 airship crash is carried onboard ship for the journey home.”