Alfred James Higgison was born to Alfred Henry and of Adah Higgison, of Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand. He was known to his family as Jim.

He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force and after initial training was sent to Canada in December 1940. After flight training there, he continued his training as a pilot with the 20 O.T.U. at Lossiemouth in Scotland.

Sgt. Higgison then became an operational pilot with 15 Squadron, flying Stirling bombers. He was the first New Zealander to fly on this type of bomber. His crew consisted of:

F/O Sydney Douglas Marshall, of New South Wales, Australia

Sgt Pilot Alfred James Higgison, of Auckland, New Zealand

15 Sqn RAF
 

Sgt Gordon Hogarth Mayor, of Allerton, Lancashire

Sgt Kenneth Godfrey Howard Davies, of England

Sgt Arthur Walter Dudley Frost, of Richmond, Surrey

F/S Charles George White, AFM, of Marylebone, London

P/O John Davis Walker McCallum, of England

Jim and his mother (Picture courtesy of Ian Wilson)

On 18 July 1941, they took of in their aircraft, a Stirling I, coded N6030 LS-P,  from Wyton, Cambridgeshire on a daylight raid on Wesel, using cloud cover.

They were recalled due to clearing skies, but their aircraft was hit by a night fighter and crashed in the North Sea.  The whole crew perished.

F/S White was washed ashore on the beach of Noordwijk on 7 August 1941. His body was found by a civilian and a policeman, Hermanus van Venetiën. He was buried that day on the Noordwijk General Cemetery.

Sgt Frost was buried on 12 August 1941 in Amsterdam New Eastern Cemetery.

P/O McCallum was washed ashore on 13 August 1941 near paal (or stake) 23, 3 km north of De Koog on the island of Texel. He was buried that same day on Den Burg Cemetery.

Sgt Davies was found at sea by German vessel and originally buried in the Huisduinen Military Cemetery (near Den Helder) on 14 August 1941. After the war he was reinterred in Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery in the south of the Netherlands.

Sergeant Pilot Alfred (Jim) Higgison, Flying Officer Sydney Marshall and Sergeant Gordon Mayor were never found and are remembered on the Runnymede memorial.

Newspaper clipping about Jim being reported Missing
In Action (Picture courtesy of Ian Wilson)

Sergeant Alfred James Higgison is commemorated at the Runnymede memorial, panel 64

 

See also:
F/O Sydney Marshall
Sgt Arthur Frost
Sgt Gordon Mayor
Sgt Kenneth Davies
F/S Charles White, AFM
P/O John McCallum

Acknowledgements:
Mr. Will McCallum
Mr. Ian Wilson (website about Alfred James Higgison)
RAF Squadron crest © Crown Copyright is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office

Directions to Runnymede Memorial

If you have any suggestions, comments or additional information, please contact me.

This website is dedicated to the men and women who died and/or are buried in The Netherlands during World War II.

 

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