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Sgt. John Coaker, Commonwealth War Grave

The inscription on the grave in Leusdon churchyard reads: ‘Per ardua ad astra. 1276786. Sergeant J. Coaker. Air Gunner. Royal Air Force. 18th February 1943. Age 22. Rest in peace’. He was born in late 1920, the son of George and Edith Amy Coaker of Poundsgate. At the time of the 1921 Census, he was eight months old, living at Lower Lodge where his father was a lodge-keeper for Spitchwick manor house. Military sources online show that he died when the engine of his Lancaster caught fire and the plane crashed, ‘while in the circuit of Bottesfield, Leics., during a training sortie’. He was part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, in 61 Squadron.