LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer William John O’DONNELL
Service No: 420906
Born: Darlinghurst NSW, 11 April 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 432 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station East Moor
Died: Air Operations: (No. 432 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DS843), Germany, 22 January 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Owen O’Donnell and Lillian Trevar O’Donnell; husband of Patricia Lillian Rosaline O’Donnell, of Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ashfield NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2023 hours on the night of 22/23rd January 1944, Lancaster DS843 took off from East Moor detailed to bomb Magdeburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off, and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down over the target area by a night fighter, and crashed near Breitenhagen. Four of the crew members were killed and three became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of DS843 were:
Pilot Officer Mark Procter Bailhache (1322954) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Flight Sergeant Edward Michael Myer (1382834) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William John O’Donnell (420906) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Douglas Lyzne Pocock (R/163007) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Jack Sealy Poole (1334787) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Mills Thompson (1348369) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant Jack Herbert Williams (1604309) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/31/142