Harrell Goldsworth EVANS
(1922-1945)

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Life story retold with support from Kate Tejani & Suzy Phillips

Leading Aircraftman Harrell Goldsworth Evans was 22 when he died. His story is told by his niece Kate whose father was the youngest of the 6 siblings and was 2 when Harrell died.

Harrell’s birth was born in 1922.

Harrell’s father was sent from Cornwall to Wales to work at the mines and it is believed that he worked at the mines in Llanbradach where we made links before with the Bevin boys. Sidney Chown Quick, one of the Bevin Boys buried at Reading Old, worked and died at those mines. The middle name Goldsworth was the surname of Harrell’s father.

Harrell was flying with RAF personnel to India in a bid to end the war in the East. Not long after take-off, the plane experienced trouble with one of the engines apparently due to a lack of fuel pressure and the pilot decided to land the aircraft. He made a non-standard descent through cloud without using the radio aids available to him. Whilst in cloud and generally bad visibility, the aircraft struck a hill and was destroyed by fire. None of the 26 men survived. The date was 15 June 1945. WW2 officially ended on 15 August 1945 when Japan surrendered.

Additional information about Harrell’s accident is curated from sources describing the air disaster. The telegram below is courtesy of his niece Suzy. The address is registered as 49 Dolmershe Road, Reading.

Harrell is buried in Reading Old Cemetery and the inscription of the grave shows his family’s great love and sorrow of his death.

Buried in Section 31, Row A, Number 20