LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Anton David ANDERSON
Service No: 414332
Born: Charters Towers QLD, 22 January 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 September 1941
Unit: No. 518 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Tiree
Died: Air Operations: (No. 518 Squadron Halifax aircraft LL123), Atlantic Ocean, 21 January 1945, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Jack and Elenore Lillian Anderson; husband of Dorothy Joyce Anderson, of East Sherwood, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 283, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2353 hours on 20 January 1945 Halifax LL123 took off from Tiree on a long range “Bismuth” Meteorological sortie. Weather reports were transmitted normally, the last one in Position 8 on the first Leg at 0444 hours. Nothing further was received until 0712 hours when the following was transmitted “WJR 3 WDM 3 10500-138”. The next message at 0808 hours was a distress message; another distress message was received at 0818 hours and then nothing further. It was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of LL123 were:
Warrant Officer Anton David Anderson (414332) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Albert Howard Andrews (1804199) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Arthur John Bacon (116676) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Gerald Beuttell (139631) (RAFVR) (Meteorological Observer)
Flight Sergeant Robert Kiddle (1380293) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flight Sergeant Rennie Arthur Loader (1381426) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Wing Commander Norman Foster Morris (39556) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Douglas Stone (1314266) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
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, 166/3/361