LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alec Henry BEESLEY
Service No: 404631
Born: Camberwell, England, 31 May 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1940 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 103 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elsham Wolds
Died: Air Operations: (No. 103 Squadron Halifax aircraft W1220), Netherlands, 5 September 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Leeuwarderadeel (Jelsum) Protestant Churchyard, Friesland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Esther May Beesley, of Mount Morgan, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mount Morgan QLD
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Halifax W1220 took off from RAF Elsham Wolds at 0001 hours on the morning of 5 September 1942, detailed to bomb Bremen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at 0339 at Jelsum (Friesland), 5kms north north west of Leeuwarden, Holland, and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W1220 were:
Flight Sergeant Alec Henry Beesley (404631) (First Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Sydney Frank Belbin (408140) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Grant Crockett (403393) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ernest Lewis Davies (404934) (Pilot)
Sergeant John James Parish (622589) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Sidney Mervyn Selway (1376161) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant John Douglas Whitehead (1057167) (Air Bomber) (Wireless Air Gunner)
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, 163/91/578
Bibliography:
Charlwood, D.E.C. (Donald Ernest Cameron) (408794) No Moon Tonight (Angus and Robertson 1956), Penguin Ringwood VIC, 3134, 1991