LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Thomas George David MILLS

Service No: 410509
Born: Hawthorn VIC, 16 January 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1942
Unit: No. 199 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lakenheath
Died: Air Operations: (No. 199 Squadron Stirling aircraft LJ480), France, 12 March 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Naujac-Sur-Mer Communal Cemetery, Gironde, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie George Mounsey Mills and Flora Elizabeth Mills, of Blackburn, Victoria, Australia. Analytical Chemist. Plot Square.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1911 hours on the night of 11 March 1944 Stirling LJ480 took off from Lakenheath detailed to carry out a gardening (mine-laying) operation off the south west coast of France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down in wooded country at Le Pin Sec near Lake Hourtin, France, and all the crew members were killed.

The crew members of LJ480 were:

Flight Sergeant Keith Fowler Allen (410936) (Pilot)
Sergeant Reginald Horace Cantwell (1894616) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant James Clark (1346415) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William Howell Ebsworth (1378087) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas George David Mills (410509) (Navigator)
Sergeant Alan Tym (1816965) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Cecil Reginald West (1502402) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)

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, 166/27/376

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