LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Jack Alexander BATTERHAM
Service No: 414382
Born: Melbourne VIC, 10 May 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 14 September 1941 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 1678 Conversion Unit (RAF), RAF Station Foulsham
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1678 Conversion Unit Lancaster aircraft DS653), Dorset, 25 November 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Isaac Robert and Elsie Hope Batterham, and stepson of Alice May Batterham, of Banyo, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Coolangatta QLD
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 25 November 1943, Lancaster DS653 took off from RAF Foulsham for a high level cross-country flight. At 1149 hours the aircraft exploded in mid-air, casting debris over a wide area around the community of Sturminster Newton, 8 miles south west of Shaftsbury, Dorset. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of DS653 were:
Sergeant Jack Alexander Batterham (414382) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Alfred Bennett (1388734) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Maxwell Sydney Beyer (410589) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Owen Albert Burton (422256) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Robert Ernest Harris (1384334) (RAFVR) (Wireless air Gunner)
Warrant Officer II Ernest Gerald Johnston (R/149773) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Leslie Slater (1626592) (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, 166/5/350