LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Rex Gordon PERRETT
Service No: 404983
Born: Brisbane QLD, 1 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Graveley
Died: Air Operations: (No. 35 Squadron Halifax aircraft HR906), Germany, 30 July 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Becklingen War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Alfred and Annie Perrett, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flying Officer Keith Jobson Perrett (434608)
At 2158 hours on the night of 29 July 1943 Halifax HR906 took off from Graveley to bomb Hamburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft had been shot down by a night fighter and six crew members had been killed and one was a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of HR906 were:
Flying Officer David James Anderson (129172) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant W L Breckell (49661) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant Eric Charles Fox (1455705) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer Rex Gordon Perrett (404983) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William John Spence (1123753) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Robert Spooner (156601) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Roy Webb (1430274) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
In a later report Flight Lieutenant Breckell stated “the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter near Hamburg and the aircraft went out of control.” The Germans later informed him that six of the crew members were killed in the crash”
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, 166/32/44