Horstead – All Saints’ Church (Vincent Noel Giri)

This is one of the two Commonwealth War Graves at Horstead Church, the other commemorating the life of Alfred Jackson. This grave commemorates the life of Vincent Noel Giri, born in 1922, who was brought up in Southern Rhodesia.

Giri was promoted from a pilot officer to a flight officer on 1 October 1942, although his grave notes his role as being the former. He was killed, along with six others, when the Lancaster Bomber aircraft that he was flying in crashed in North Kesteven, Lincolnshire on 20 December 1942 after taking off from RAF Waddington. He was flying in 44th squadron, which was the Rhodesian squadron, which ultimately had the third highest number of casualties of any squadron in the RAF Bomber Command. Vincent was just 20 years old when he died and had been living at Stanninghall Farm in Horstead, along with several other servicemen.