Brother pays last respects to hero 68 years on

For 68 years Mr Sullivan had wondered how and where his brother died. He did not even know if the gunner had been laid to rest.

He was just 14 when his mother got the telegram every family with loved ones fighting in the Second World War dreaded, telling how his brother had been killed in action while flying over Germany.

Since that dreadful day, still vivid in his memory, he says he has never known whether his brother, Sergeant Eric Sullivan, who was killed during a bombing raid had ever been found, and if he had been given a funeral.

However, Mr Sullivan, 82, who lives near Thorner, in Leeds, has recently discovered the airman was buried in Berlin and he has just been to a war cemetery to pay his respects.

He said: “I was very emotional.

“I was very stressed going over I was not sure how I would react to being in the cemetery, it was very sad to see hundreds of graves.

“When we found my brother’s grave I cried. For 68 years I wondered how and where he died, I only wish my mother had been able to find all this out before she died.”

He has also received his brother’s medals from the Ministry of Defence.

He proudly wore them on his trip as a mark of respect.

“I never ever thought that there would have been a grave.

“I thought if the aeroplane came down it would just have exploded and that would be the end of them,” he has said.

Sgt Sullivan, a gunner, was flying with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) when he was killed at the age of 19.

He had been flying with 460 squadron of the RAAF, based in Lincolnshire, even though he had joined up as a member of the Royal Air Force volunteer reserve.

Although 460 squadron was an Australian air force unit, it was also part of the RAF’s bomber command.

Many of the crew members were from the UK.

He was killed in action in December 1943, in hostile airspace, eleven miles south of Berlin.

Mr Sullivan was living in Dagenham, Essex, at the time of his brother’s death but in later years he moved to Leeds with his late wife Pat.

His son, Gary Sullivan, has helped him to track his brother’s grave and went with him on a visit to the Berlin 1939-1945 war cemetery last month to see where the airman’s body had been laid to rest.

“I am so happy that I have found him and it’s a load off my mind, I still love him and I will always think about him.

“I have never had any closure. I wish my mum had known about this, it would have helped her, “ Mr Sullivan said earlier.

He has said his mother went to pieces when she got the telegram, it spoilt her life and she never really got over it.

Over the years Mr Sullivan, who was a professional snooker player in the 1950s, had always thought about his brother and wanted to find out what had happened to him.

He had two elder brothers and a sister but says he was closest to his brother Eric as they were near in age.

Mr Sullivan’s family were too poor to own a camera and he does not have any pictures of his brother but he remembers him as being kind-hearted and says his memories of him remain vivid and if he thinks back he can still picture him standing there.

Visiting Berlin was certainly a moving experience for Mr Sullivan but knowing where his brother’s final resting place is has also brought him a great deal of comfort and peace of mind.

Last night Mr Sullivan said that it was very much a journey he had been glad he had been able to make.

“It has given me the knowledge that he was laid to rest with his friends, also it has given me peace of mind,” he said.

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