WWII heroes to be buried

By Andrew Stackpool

‘FINIS’ is shortly to be written to another small chapter of human sacrifice from World War II.

Air Force is to hold a funeral service for four of the six RAAF crew of No. 463 Squadron Lancaster PB290.

The men were killed when the aircraft was shot down on a raid on the German city of Geissen, 40km north of Frankfurt on the night of December 6, 1944.

The service will be held at the Hanover War Cemetery in Germany on September 13.
Part of the Lancaster’s wreckage with some human remains was found in a forest near Geissen last year by a group of German historians.

Forensic tests identified the remains of Flying Officers Alan Bond, the aircraft navigator, Gwynne Thomas, the wireless operator, and Flight Sergeant Joslyn Henderson, the rear gunner.

From this, unidentified remains in the Hanover War Cemetery were identified as Flight Sergeant Henry Hawthorn, the mid-upper gunner.

The Lancaster took off from RAF Base Waddington on December 6, on the mission. Its crew comprised six Australians and one RAF crewmember.

Over Geissen, a German night fighter shot the Lancaster down. It crashed into a wooded area about 3km north-east of the town.

At the time of the crash, the bodies of Flying Officers Richard Young, the aircraft captain, and Henry MacMeikan, the bomb aimer, Flight Sergeant Hawthorn and Sergeant Phillip Gwynne, RAF, the engineer, were recovered and buried in the Geissen local cemetery.

At the time, the remains of Flight Sergeant Hawthorn could not be identified, but were buried with the others in the Geissen local cemetery. Later, their remains were transferred to the Hanover War Cemetery.

Air Force is seeking to contact any relatives of Flying Officer Bond and Flight Sergeant Henderson. Any one who has information on their relatives is asked to contact Flight Lieutenant Greg Williams, Air Force Headquarters, on (02) 6265 1027.

No. 463 Squadron was formed at RAF Base Waddington on November 25, 1943, from C Flight, No. 467 Squadron.
It fought extensively in the battle of the Ruhr and subsequent bombing raids against Germany, including operations over Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

At the end of the war in Europe it was to be reassigned to the war in the Pacific, but was disbanded on September 25 1945 after Japan’s surrender.

During its short life, 463SQN flew 2525 sorties (15,280 hours) and dropped 11,430 tonnes of ordnance. Its gunners destroyed up to 12 enemy aircraft and damaged another 14.

In response, it lost 78 Lancasters and 546 aircrew, including 225 Australians.

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