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The Story of Harry Noel Greenberg (Tanny)
Harry Noel Greenberg, (Tanny) was born in Kuruman, South Africa on the 14th March 1916, the
eldest of seven children.
On the 17th June 1941 Tanny who was in his 5th year of medical school at the University of Cape
Town joined the SAAF to do his duty. A chronic shortage of doctors in South Africa meant he was not
obliged to go to war. But he was determined to go.
Earning his wings on the 5 September 1942 he aced his assessments earning A and AA in all areas.
Tanny desperately wanted to be a fighter pilot but as a result of an astigmatism in the eye these
requests were repeatedly turned down. On the 12th December 1942 at the Union of South Africa's
2nd Airschool in Randfontein, Tanny became a flight instructor.
Tanny trained both South African, British and Allied Pupil Pilots in elementary flying. This training
was done on the Tiger moth. One of Tanny's former students a Bill Tatham who was trained by him
in 1943 describes him as having " a wonderfully pleasant, friendly, patient personality." Later in the
war as the demand for training new pilots decreased he was posted to Mobile Air Force Depot (
MAFD) based in Pretoria. MAFD's role in WWII was posting aircrew onwards to active squadrons. He
then spent time at 9AD and 3AD airforce depots based at Wingfield (Cape Town) and Brooklyn (Cape
Town) respectively. These depots were SAAF maintenance units that assembled, stored and
delivered new and repaired aircraft. Tanny's role was that of a War Aircraft Ferry Pilot. On the 4 Sept
1944 he returned to MAFD.
On the 8th October 1944 Tanny was posted to Squadron 28. The unit was based in North Africa in
Algiers. Their squadron motto was "Portamus" which means "We Carry". Sadly, nineteen days
before the end of the war, on the 19th April 1945 Tanny was flying a Douglas Dakota C47 Skytrain
transport plane on a non combat transport mission from Algiers North Africa to Marignane Airport
near Marseille France. In bad weather, his plane crashed into a small mountain in Vitrolles. All
aboard perished. Tanny, who had just turned 28, left behind a 22 year old wife Maureen and 20
month old son Edgar.
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Road to a Memorial
A message from Sophie Ferrer of Vitrolles - 14th March 2011, to Karen
Roberts of Brisbane Australia, Tanny's Grand daughter.
Sophie Ferrer 14 mars 2011, 10:03
Subject: Harry Noel Greenberg
Hello, I'm responsible for research of Lieutenant Harry Noël Greenberg, pilote SAAF in WWII. His plane,
Douglas C47 Dakota, crashed in 1945 April 19th on the hill in my town Vitrolles (South of France).May be you are
her grand daughter (I know Harry Noël had got a son Edgar Noël who had got three girls, Carolyn, Karen and
Noleen).I write you because my mayor and the population of Vitrolles want to make a memorial stone to honor
the sacrifice on your grandfather and others occupants of Douglas C47. They came to liberate us.We want to
know if you have more informations and photos (photocopy of course) of your grandfather to put with the names
on the memorial stone.Excuse me for my english and I hope to hear from you.
Very sincerely.
Sophie Ferrer
An email from Sophie to Noleen and Karen - Tanny's Grand
daughters in Australia and Jill - Maureen's Niece in Cape Town - 16
March 2011
Karen, Noleen, Jill,
Thank you very much for your mail. I'm very touched by your kindness.
Please send all my love to Maureen. Her story moved me.
I'll try to tell you how I started research on Harry.
My husband is the founder chairman of an association "Liberty Vehicles Group - Supporting WWII veterans".
We have vehicles of the Second World War, we take part in the ceremonies of commemorations like on May 8th,
on November 11th (Armistice WWI), on July 14th (national holiday)...and we try to update the archives of our city
because over the period of the war there is nothing.
Approximately a year ago, an inhabitant of Vitrolles which was very old, brought to my husband an object very
rusted. My husband, Robert, saw that it was a cylinder of engine of plane and he asked the old man where he
had found. He answered that he had found it is very a long time in the hill and that belonged to the plane which
had been crashed in 1945.
But,we did not know which type of plane and the exact date !!!
We went to question inhabitants of Vitrolles who were present at the time of the accident to try to have more
information.
Mireille and Boris, in 1945, heard an explosion, seen smoke in the hill. They went with other people to carry help
to the crew but unfortunately there was nothing any more to make. They showed us the place of the accident
(look photo).
At the end of 2010, a French website put the name of all the planes which were crushed in France between 1939
and 1945. By key words “accident plane vitrolles, I found in the website the plane and his crew (their name, age,
and the parent's name). I had finally found the Douglas C47 Dakota KN332 who had been crashed on the hill of
Vitrolles on April 19th, 1945 because of too low clouds.
How did I find you?
On google, I sought “Harry Noël Greenberg” and a website “the Kluckow Family Tree” gave me the names of all
the family. I had only the first names of Carolyn, Karen and Noleen but not their family name (if they were
married).
But, always on the website “Kluckow”, I found a message of Noleen Ballard which spoke about her sister Karen
Roberts (Greenberg) and where she lived and with this informations Facebook finished work. For 3 months, all
the weekend, I sought you and now I am happy to find to you.
I put to you photos of the place of the accident and a photo of Douglas C47 Dakota which is the same model that
“Tanny" controlled.
As soon as the weather is nice (it does not stop raining), we will carry flowers on the Tanny's grave in the military
cemetery and we will send photos to you.
Excuse me for my english, it's not very good.
Yours sincerely
Sophie.
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"To Our Allied Soldiers" Photo: Courtesy of Sophie Ramirez
May 8 Ceremony
May 8 marks the official day of Victory in Europe when the Allied forces accepted the
unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
Each year ceremonies take place in towns all over France.
In 2011 the town of Vitrolles moved their WWI memorial from the Cemetry in Vitrolles to the
square in front of the City Hall and unveiled a plaque to "Our Allied Soldiers".Tanny's name gilt in gold now
stands for all future generations to see.
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Marzargues War Cemetery
Tanny is buried the Marzargues War Cemetery, Marseille.
It is situated about 6km from the centre of town of Marseille and about 25 km from Vitrolles where his plane went
down.
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Was it an Accident or Sabotage? We may never know.
Chère Karen et Michael,
I hope that you and your family are very well.
Some news :
The two people not identified in Dakota C-47 with Tannie were the Lieutenant-colonel Thouvenin Henri
(47 years old) and a soldier of the french air force Chrétien Siméon (21 years old).
I found the family of Thouvenin Henri. His grandson will come for the ceremony of May 8th 2013 in
Vitrolles.
Thouvenin took this plane because he had a very important mission in France.
He had to take over command of a regiment against the German in Royan. This mission was called
"Opération Vénérable".
I hope that Maureen, Edgar and Jane are well.
We miss you
Lots of love.
Sophie.
Chère Karen,
Henri Thouvenin was born in August 5th 1898. He was 47 years old when he died. He had got 2 children
(girls), Marie Thérèse (1923-?) and Christianne (1926-2000). His wife, Marguerite, died in 1986.
He was supposed to take a other plane, a other day but he was looking forward to come to France. Then,
Henri asked to the pilote (Tanny or Smith) if he could take seat on the Dakota. The pilot consented to
Henri.
He was not identified because he wasn't envisaged on this flight and thus he wasn't on the list of the
passengers. But the authorities knew his presence in the aircraft therefore he appears in the military
archives.
His wife knew the details of this death (she said it to her daughters and to her grandchildren). What is sad
it's the Lieutenant-colonel Thouvenin wasn't declared "died on an official assignment" (because he didn't
take the flight envisaged) and his wife didn't receive the widow pension of war.
Thank you to help me in my research.
I hope that Mike take advantage of all these hours of flight to revise his french because when we come in
Australia (maybe a day) I will not speak English, I will be on holiday ;-)
Lots of love.
Sophie.
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,
Above: Henri Thouvenin
Chère Karen
Just a small message to tell you what I found.
When the grandchildren of the Colonel Thouvenin came the May 8th 2013, they told me what them
grandmother had told them about the air crash :
"After the crash, the army suspected the commander of the air base of Marignane of being a spy and few
years later officiers of the army said to the widow of the Colonel Thouvenin that the commander of the
air base of Marignane had been arrested because he gave Nazi intelligence officers in Spain important
information about the MOVEMENTS OF ALLIED AIRCRAFT during the final phase of the war".
The Colonel Thouvenin was supposed to direct a very important mission in the "Poche de Royan"
against the Germans.
Witness of the accident said that had heard the plane several times turned around the Plateau de Vitrolles
before being crushed.
Is this an accident or not ?
Then I investigated and I found 3 articles of newspapers of 1947. And the story is true ! but I can't
connect the accident to the arrest of the commander. His name is Jean Rugammer and except these
articles I dont find anything on him, neither his date and his place of death and nor his judgement.
I'm sorry but I search again.
All my Love.
Sophie
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Boris and Mirelle were young teenagers when they heard the crash and saw the smoke on the hill of
Vitrolles. They raced to the plateau to see if they could offer assistance to the victims of the plane
crash. Sadly there was nothing that they could do. They were the last on the scene before the Allied
Soldiers came to take away the deceased. Boris told us of the German occupation of the town of
Vitrolles and how his job was to help hide the Allied army tanks with bushes as the Allied Tanks
advanced against the Germans. More than 2 million Allied forces camped on the plateau of Vitrolles
during the duration of the war with the camp taking 200 000 at a time. It was along this same
plateau that Tanny lost his life. Mirelle shared that the Plateau is never covered in mist but she
remembers that day that the plateau was blanketed in mist and the accident happened just after 8
in the morning.
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At the top of the Rock of Vitrolles sits a 11th
Century Chapelle Notre Dame De Vie. The Chapel is
now closed to the public.
The Mayor Lois Gachon organised for this to be opened for us to see inside. Once a year the statue
of Mary is carried down the steps in the village for an annual Celebration. In 1947 a Memorial
service was held to honour the occupants of the C47 Crash. The 2 elderly ladies in the back row were
5 years old when their mother took them to attend the memorial service.
View from the Notre Dame De Vie looking out to the Marignane airport
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Inside the Notre Dame De Vie with the Cillier Sister in the back row on the right
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In the distance the extended Marignane airport runway can be seen extending out into the water. The blackened
Cliff where the plane crashed can still be seen to this day.
Steps down from the Notre Dame De Vie - Vitrolles
