Old Urney Cemetery
Nursing Sister Eliza Jane Mehaffey: A Nurse Lost to War, Remembered at HomeWithin the family plot at Old Urney Cemetery rests the memory of Nursing Sister Eliza Jane Mehaffey, daughter of John and Margaret Mehaffey of Strabane. Serving in Queen Alexandra’s Royal Nursing Service during World War II, Eliza was stationed at HMS Cormorant II – the Royal Naval Air Station in Gibraltar.
On 18 July 1943, at the age of 36, Eliza was aboard a Short Sunderland (JM687) of RAF 204 Squadron, flying between the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, when the aircraft was attacked and shot down by Luftwaffe pilots Oberleutnant Gustav Christner and Leutnant Lothar Wolff of KG 40 at approximately 13:14 hrs. All 14 crew and passengers, including Nursing Sister Mehaffey, were lost and officially listed as “Missing Presumed Killed.”
Her name lives on – inscribed on the family headstone in Urney and commemorated on Panel 84, Column 3 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial, a reminder of those who have no known grave.
Eliza’s story takes us from a serene rural site in Tyrone to the perilous skies over the Mediterranean. It shines a light on the often-unseen sacrifices of women in uniform, serving far from home in critical, life-saving roles.