Les 'Juicy' Adams - RAF rear gunner

**liverpool annie** · 09-11-2009, 08:42 PM

We've been working on a project over on WW1 for Rugby players who served and died and I came across this man ... I know it's a bit of a long shot but by any chance can we find out what happened to Juicy ?

Juicy became a landlord in Leeds and volunteered for war duty with the RAF as a rear gunner. He was killed in action in 1944 over Japan. There were eight men on the plane when it was shot down by the Japanese in late 1944. Two of the occupants were killed when the plane crashed and two others, including Juicy were never found. The remaining four were captured and tortured by the Japanese before being killed. After the war the Japanese officers responsible were tried for war crimes and were executed. Despite numerous searches of the
area around the crash site and discussions with villagers who found the plane, no trace of the body of Juicy could be found.

Les ‘Juicy’ Adams was born no more than a spit away from Headingley on Meanwood Road and was obviously a star in the making from his schooldays, which totally endeared him to the Headingley faithful who were delighted that one of their own had made the grade. That he only made 109 appearances in total for the Loiners was very much the fault of the Headingley managements recruitment policy rather than any lack of talent on Juicy’s part.

After a successful junior career, and an appearance in a Headingley Curtain-Raiser, Juicy was signed as a sixteen year old in August 1926 and made his debut, as scrum half, just seven months later. He progressed through the A Team and was given the odd First Team appearance before his big break came in 1930 when he was called up for the Championship semi final against St Helens at Knowsley Road. Leeds had to field a severely weakened team but he no hopers, led magnificently by Juicy gained a marvellous victory to put Leeds in the Final.

The following season saw Juicy established in the scrum half position. In his first full season he gained County Cup and League honours, gained his County cap and represented England against Wales. Juicy had arrived. Leeds though, had other ideas! They had been hot on the heels of Australian Test Scrum Half, Joe Chimpy Busch, since the 1930 tour by Australia. On Christmas Day of that year they announced that they had secured his services and that he would be arriving at Headingley in February. Leeds had a major problem. Committed financially to Busch they tried to fit him and Juicy into the team by playing the Australian at Stand Off. Once this had failed the 1931-32 campaign turned into a lottery as far as the Scrum Half position was concerned with Leeds unable to choose between the artistry and craft of Juicy or the lightning pace of Chimpy. It looked as though the management had decided to stick with home grown talent when Juicy was selected for the big end of season games and he was master of the field at Wigan as Leeds took the 1932 Challenge Cup against much fancied Swinton. Come the end of the season and Juicy was off to Australia on the Lions tour. Returning in September with a Great Britain Test Cap, he was gutted to find himself relegated to the A team and was shocked to find that Huddersfield’s offer for him before the Challenge Cup deadline had been accepted. Juicy couldn't believe it. All he ever wanted to do was play for Leeds, now he was being pushed out of Headingley, and for an Australian!

Quickly settling in at Huddersfield he was back in the Challenge Cup Final, this time at Wembley and gaining his second winners medal in two years. Back at Wembley in 1936, this time with Castleford, Juicy created his own piece of Rugby League history by becoming the first man to win a Challenge Cup winners medal with three different clubs. And all from someone who never wanted to leave Headingley!

Continuing to live in Leeds he was back at Headingley for the last time on Christmas Day 1942, and in the Blue and Amber that meant so much to him, in a wartime guest appearance.
Showing all the skill that made him so popular at Headingley a decade earlier, he thrilled the crowd in a half back partnership with Oliver Morris and between them they orchestrated the Loiners to a 36-5 victory over Oldham.

**liverpool annie** · 09-11-2009, 09:02 PM

I think I might have found it .... what do you think ? ...... though the details aren't quite right ... but the details I had were vague !!

how awful for them though ..... hard to imagine isn't it ?

Lib #6: BZ938 "W" for "Wottawitch!!"

• A Mark V Liberator of C Flight (Special Flight), 159 Squadron
• Shot down southwest of Rangoon, Burma on night of 30 / 31 Jan 1945 during a radar & radio
detection flight.
• 3 crewmen were not seen after bailout. 6 men (2 officers, 4 F/Sgts) were turned over to the
Japanese by Burmese villagers. Several days later the 2 officers were separated from the F/Sgts and sent to Rangoon Jail, where they survived. The 4 F/Sgts were later executed by the Japanese.
• The graves of the 4 executed airmen lie in Rangoon War Cemetery, Burma.
• I corresponded with A.G. Jeffrey before his death in the 1990s. I have corresponded with the kin of 6 other crewmen.

Pilot: ** 84656 S/Ldr James Wilson BRADLEY DFC (RAF, from England)
2nd Pilot: + 710193 F/Sgt Leslie BELLINGAN (RAF, from Rhodesia)
Navigator: ** 147114 F/O Allan Graham JEFFREY (RAF, from England)
Wireless Operator: 156570 F/O William James John LOWERY (RAF, from England)
Flight Engineer: + 1231723 F/Sgt Robert James SNELLING (RAF, from England)
Wireless Op/Air Gnr: 421484 W/O Arthur Roland WILLIAMS (RAAF, from Australia)
Air Gunner: 1592986 F/Sgt Leslie ADAMS (RAF, from England)
Wireless Op/Air Gnr: + 1803337 F/Sgt John Derek WOODAGE (RAF, from England)
Wireless Op/Air Gnr: +# 1393806 F/Sgt Stanley James WOODBRIDGE GC (RAF, from England)

Italics: Believed to have bailed out; not seen by other 6 crewmen after reaching
the ground.
+ Beheaded by the Japanese on 7 February 1945. Buried in Rangoon
War Cemetery, Burma.
** Captured, separated from the 4 others, sent to Rangoon Jail, liberated.
# Posthumously awarded George Cross, 1948, for his courage in defying
captors in the face of death.

http://www.rquirk.com/poole/PHOTOREQUEST4.pdf

**Dave Barlow** · 09-11-2009, 11:36 PM

I don't know if you have already looked at it, but both the Personnel and Casualty file for the RAAF member on board are available to be read on-line through the National Archives of Australia.

The casualty file has set a new record at being 145 pages long. I have never seen a file reach triple figures before. Only seven pages in and the ruling in 1957 mentions the search of the crash area and most other known circumstances of the crash.

Both survivors were questioned and the fate of the missing airmen is still unknown.

cheers

**liverpool annie** · 09-11-2009, 11:47 PM

My keyboard is flooded ! .... I've been sitting here reading it Dave ..... I was surprised at how in depth it was and it was amazing to see his photo and dog tags .... I've been sitting here just shaking my head !

all I can say is .. God bless the Australians .. if Arthur Williams hadn't been on that flight ... nobody would have known anything about it !

It'd definitely him isn't it ?

**Dave Barlow** · 09-12-2009, 02:33 AM

The NAA is zealous about the quality of it's files and the digitisation program is brilliant. If I inform them of any typo in a file description name or service number they investigate and correct the problem. The DVA people who run the nominal roll website are the same.

Personally, I think the service and access to files we get here is the best in the world, if a file isn't digitised it only costs a few bucks to move it up the queue and a few weeks later it's uploaded.

By reading everything they have I normally get a very good impression of everything that occured and who else was present at the time of a casualty.

**Matt Poole** · 11-01-2009, 01:58 AM

Hi, Dave and Annie.

I stumbled upon this message thread the other day and was pleased to see the photo of Les Adams as a rugby player. My compilation of crew details/fates was posted to Robert Quirk's RAF Liberator website, and that's where Annie found her info posted back on 11 Sept. For over a decade I have been involved in various aspects of the story of Les and his crew aboard WOTTAWITCH!! on their secret 159 Sqn radar/radio snooping op. Have corresponded with various kin of the crew, including Les' daughter in the Melbourne, Australia area, and also the nephews of RAAF airman Arthur Williams. It was Arthur's scanned Casualty File that you guys accessed -- such a fabulous service the Aussies provide (unlike the PATHETIC policy in the UK.

Googling on Les' name, I found a total of three photos of him as a rugby player, plus some fantastic background info on his rugby career. I knew of his international experience, but until this past week I did not realize what a star he was.

Also, the Australian War Memorial collections database (easy to find in a Google search) has a photo of Les in uniform in India...and I have one other image of him from India. Will share if you send me your e-mail addresses via the private message option.

About five years ago, using the lat/long found in the Williams Cas. File, I searched surviving 1945 aerial reconnaissance imagery at the US National Archives and came up with before and after photos, in detail, of the burn zone where WOTTAWITCH!! impacted into the dry season rice paddy stubble. Then, two friends of mine in Burma trekked to the site and talked with the current landowner, who inherited the fields from his parents. The parents told him of the crash, which ruined the crop for many years - discolored rice from the petrol, primarily. Now everything seems to be lush green, although the area was in the flood zone of last year's devastating cyclone. Supposedly there is considerable wreckage buried on site, including at least one wing. Unfortunately, my friends visited before the rainy season had concluded, so the rice had not been harvested yet and they could not really look for any small pieces of wreckage (to give to the kin of the crew).

One of the Williams nephews is scheduled to visit the site next January, led by one of the two who made the trip there last time (a multi-talented Burmese woman living in Rangoon, and formerly my neighbor in the Washington DC area). In the dry season it should be easy to reach the spot, as opposed to last time, when there was a fair bit of mudslogging involved.

Then there will be a visit to Rangoon War Cemetery to pay respects to the graves of the four crewmen who were executed so brutally by the Japanese. I have been there, back in 1993. Have photos of the four graves, but of course Les was one of the three missing lads...no graves for them. One of them was seen to fall into a mangrove swamp trailing an unopened parachute...a terrible death, but at least he did not suffer like for of his crewmates.

One of the other Les Adams items I found via a Google search the other day was a Yorkshire Post newspaper interview with his 65 year old nephew, himself an ex-professional rugby player. This recent story can be found at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport...ngs.5598668.jp

Most of the Internet info on Les has incorrect details, but now at least you folks have it straight.

Incidentally, the daughter of Les' skipper (S/Ldr James Bradley DFC) was tracked down in California, and she sent me copies of her father's logbook and also a booklet about her father's war career, used for Christian proselytising. He and the navigator (A.G. Jeffrey) - the only officers among the six captured - had been sent to Rangoon Jail and had survived to be liberated. Bradley said in this booklet that WOTTAWITCH!! was shot down by a fighter, and there is a similar reference in his logbook, but Jeffrey did not mention a fighter attack in his mid-1990s correspondences with me and with one of the Williams nephews.

No other sources say it was a fighter, including Japanese researcher/author Hiroshi Ichimura, who is a scholar on the Burma Air War and who has access to more Japanese records and diaries and such than anyone else, I'd say. (His most recent book is the Osprey publication on Ki-43 Oscar aces.)

The bottom line, then, is that it is uncertain if a fighter really did bring down WOTTAWITCH!!, or whether it was sudden engine trouble. Personally, only a fighter attack makes sense to me.

So there you go...a few more basics, and there will be more developing on this story in a couple of months or so.

Les' daughter has been very cordial to me, but I do sense that she needs her space, so I have not pestered her lately. If the Williams nephew does, indeed, make it to the crash site, he will be taking photos and maybe video, and this will be shared with the daughter.

Cheers,

Matt, near Washington, DC.

Matt

**spidge** · 11-01-2009, 03:27 AM

Here is Arthur Roland Williams on the Singapore Memorial. (Right hand side)

The 2nd photo he is in the middle halfway down.

011.JPG

035.JPG

Cheers

Geoff

**Matt Poole** · 11-01-2009, 01:02 PM

Geoff,

Thanks for the Singapore Memorial photos. I see quite a few names of Liberator airmen I've researched.

Here is my first attempt to attach a photo. It's Les "Juicy" Adams in uniform, although it's a scan of a laser copy. Not very good. I think Ivor Smith, the nephew of Arthur Williams, got a proper print from Les' daughter and sent me the laser scan.

Cheers,

Matt

**Matt Poole** · 11-01-2009, 02:53 PM

The crashsite in the rice paddies 40 miles SW of Rangoon.

Here is a 1992 account of what happened from Graham Jeffrey, the navigator on Les' Liberator:

Cheers,

Matt
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On this particular tour BZ938 made eight operational flights including the last one, the first seven of which were relatively uneventful. The last flight included a tour of southern Burma. Everything had gone to plan and we were just leaving the coast to survey some islands a few miles off-shore before setting course for home when it happened. There was a fierce vibration on the port side of the aircraft. Bradley came on the intercom to say that we had lost an engine and asked for a course for home, which I gave to him. I took a look at the repeat altimeter beside my desk and saw that we were losing height rapidly.

Bradley came on the intercom again almost immediately to ask where we were heading, and when I told him out to sea, he asked me to direct him to turn the plane towards the coast, which I did. It was clear that the plane was going to crash and that we would have to bale out.

Bradley told the crew the situation and told us to prepare to bale out. The question was would we make the coast in time to bale out over land, and I could see that it was going to be a very close thing. We were now so low, and, not yet at the coast, that Bradley had to give the order to bale out at the individual’s discretion before we reached it. To bale out I had to leave my desk, put on my parachute and open the door to the nose wheel, which was my emergency exit. I could see the altimeter, and as land appeared before me I left with the altimeter reading 1000 feet.

I landed on the shore about ten feet from the water. The five on the flight deck left very soon after me at about 700 feet and landed in paddy fields.

Although this is the end of BZ938’s story there are still some questions to answer. The first is what happened to cause the crash. Enemy action is highly unlikely. The failure of one engine should not have been enough to cause it. Liberators were expected to fly on three engines. What else happened I do not know, and I have no recollection of discussing this with Bradley later. No doubt we had other things on our minds.

The really important question is what happened to the three in the rear of the plane. They had to exit via the bomb bays, which Bradley had opened for them. There are three possibilities to consider. Did they stay on the plane and perish in the crash? This can be ruled out for two reasons. There is evidence in one of the post-war documents sent to me by Ivor Smith that Bradley was sure they had left. And the search teams sent to the spot after the war found no evidence of bodies being found in the crashed plane. If there had been, the locals would have known and told the searchers.

The second possibility is that they baled out over land. If they were killed or fatally injured in the process, and it is highly unlikely that this would have happened to all three, their bodies would have been found and reported eventually to the search teams. If they had baled out over land successfully, they would have landed near to the flight deck people and would have been captured along with them. The countryside was flat and open; there was nowhere to hide.

This leaves the third possibility, that they baled out over the sea. If Bradley and I thought we knew that they had left the plane, it must surely be because we thought that they had left before us. I landed on the beach, so that anyone leaving before me must have fallen into the sea. I do not know what the chances are of surviving the immediate shock of baling out into the sea, but many have done so.

It seems highly unlikely that all three were drowned immediately, so if, as I am convinced, they did bale out over the sea, why did none of them make it to the shore? They cannot have been too far out at sea. The sea was like a mill pond. There seemed to be virtually no tide, and it was a clear, starry night. The answer is probably that as the coast at that point is very low, there was just a narrow beach, a band of mangrove swamp, and then the paddy fields with very little rise from the sea. Anyone at sea level some way out to sea would have been unable to see the coastline.

You will gather from this that it is my strong opinion that W/O Arthur Williams and his two companions were drowned off the coast of southern Burma. I think you will understand me when I write that I consider this a blessing, bearing in mind that, if they had survived the crash, Arthur Williams and Sgt Adams would certainly, and F/O Lowery probably, have suffered the same fate as the four members of our crew who were executed by the Japanese.

**Matt Poole** · 11-01-2009, 03:01 PM

This is the recollection of S/Ldr James Bradley DFC, the skipper. The source is the booklet "Five Times Reprieved", written in 1957. You will note that Bradley said that two crewmen were unaccounted for, but of course it was three: Lowery, Williams, and Les Adams.

Matt
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In 1945 came a mission that Jim Bradley, for many more months to follow, thought would be his last. He tells it this way:-

"Early in that year we were flying over dangerous territory - Mandalay, Moulmein and Rangoon. We were all under tension. On this particular mission - January 31st, 1945 - my crew appeared to be in good spirits...that is until something out of the ordinary took place. We were approaching the coast of Burma - AND FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT I CAN BRING TO MEMORY IN ALL OUR MISSIONS I ORDERED THE CREW TO BUCKLE ON THEIR PARACHUTES. This was extraordinary. It could only have been God who prompted me to take this action!!!"

"I remember the fuss the crew raised. Over the intercom came the voice of Jefferys, the navigator, 'Hey Skipper, I can't get my job done with that heavy junk on my back...you don't really mean it, do you?' From away back in the tail, came a sigh from Adams, a former boxer, 'Oh no! As if it isn't uncomfortable enough back here now - not a 'chute, Skipper!' Gripes came from every part of the ship. I stuck to my guns. Orders were orders. Bellingham, my South African co-pilot, climbed into his, and then turned to me and said, 'Say, Skipper, aren't you going to put yours on?' Horse-laughs flooded the intercom. I hadn't had the thing out of the bag since drawing it from the parachute section.

"A little later I went back to the flight deck for coffee to shoot the breeze with Woodbridge, one of my radio men. I mentioned something to him about the thing not being properly adjusted and hard to get on. He turned, and with a smile, said, 'Skipper, I used to work in the parachute section. I know how to adjust that harness. I wouldn't mind a bit getting you set in yours.' I knew he was ribbing me, but I pulled it out, and we both yanked at the straps until it was adjusted - STILL WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST IDEA OF ITS HAVING ANY PARTICULAR SIGNIFICANCE.

"We were well satisfied with our night's work. I was heading the plane toward home, when suddenly without warning, there was an eerie whine of a runaway engine. Number one engine revved up to full power and caused our B-24 to vere sharply to the left. I tried to feather it with the emergency control. Nothing happened. Automatically I was countering the reaction of the aircraft and resetting a normal course.

"While this was taking place, Bellingham called over the intercom that number three engine was on fire. I pulled the lever and released the anti-flame jets which are fitted around the engine. Number one engine was feathered, and we were flying on two engines. They threw overboard everything that could be moved. I struggled for an optimistic tone of voice and called over the intercom, 'Look fellows-it appears as though we might have to bail out. If I get down to 1,500 feet and I can't hold it-I'll give the order to jump. Get your escape aids, your maps, and make ready to jump if necessary: A JAP NIGHT FIGHTER HAD FOUND HIS MARK AND WE WERE GOING DOWN.

"We were losing altitude at about 300 to 400 feet a minute. The navigator informed me that we were about 40 miles southwest of Rangoon where the delta of the Irrawaddy River empties into the Indian Ocean. I couldn't hold a 1,500 foot altitude. And gave the order to jump. My navigator went out through the nose, and the rest, except the radio man, went through the bomb-bays. The fighter had ruined our radio. There was no chance to give our position. And now every second counted as I rode that Bomber toward earth! I glanced at my altimeter and it read 700 feet.

When I knew that my crew members had cleared away I pulled the controls back sharply to bring it into a stall so that it might crash nearby. We had to make sure that it was destroyed and that no information would fall into the enemy's hands. I dived through the open bomb-bay and yanked at my ripcord. For a moment I was horrified. Nothing seemed to happen. I felt as though I were an inkpot hurtling down through blackness. I tried to pull the chute out with my hands - and then, whoosh - a sudden jerk. It seemed that almost the same time I hit the ground and was rolling over and over.

"I landed near my radio operator. Almost instantly the plane hit. I did not need to worry about destroying it. Flames from a thousand gallons of high octane gas did that job for us. I was unhurt. I began to run. I whistled and called for the others. I lost contact with everyone.

"I could see silhouetted figures of Burmese standing as near as they dared to the sheets of flame. A crowd gathered. I knew I must be near a village. I spent that night prowling around in the woods. At dawn I noticed a chicken and began to stalk it. Burmese chickens are like our pheasants. Suddenly it flew away.

"The Burmese soon began a wide-spread search. I reached for my little English:Burmese dictionary and looked for a word of greeting. I was a thousand miles from our front-lines-a thousand miles of jungle. So with my little book in my hand I introduced myself.

"They chattered like magpies. They took turns in feeling my clothes. They didn't seem to be happy to see me, and I was worried. They were armed with long sticks with sharp knives attached to the ends of these sticks. I tried to explain to them that I was from the great king's army and that this great emperor would reward them handsomely if they would help me and my friends to escape. They pretended not to understand me, and marched me off to their village. There I met the rest of my crew,or what was left of them. Two were lost and never heard from again. I was the last one in."