LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Athol Asher HARLEM
Service No: 408833
Born: Windsor VIC, 4 July 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1941
Unit: No. 199 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lakenheath
Died: Air Operations: (No. 199 Squadron Stirling aircraft EE917), Netherlands, 31 August 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Eindhoven (Woensel General) Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Bertram Julius and Laurie Hannah Harlem, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: St Kilda VIC
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0040 hours on the morning of 31 August 1943, Stirling EE917 took off from Lakenheath detailed to bomb Munchengladbach, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0356 hours at Eind (Limburg), 6 kms north east of Weert and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of EE917 were:
Sergeant Royston Hazeldine George Ellis (918424) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harry Eli Elphick (1206631) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Alexander Douglas Finlayson DFM (408569) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Frank Ernest Gee (412129) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Athol Asher Harlem (408833) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Bailes Julian (1079475) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Ian Nichol McLaren (988491) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Thomas Smith (1603576) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/17/296