LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Keith Selwyn BELL
Service No: 414457
Born: Ipswich QLD, 3 May 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DS834), Netherlands, 29 December 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Tungelroij Roman Catholic Churchyard, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Gordon Percy and Minnie Bell, of Cunnamulla, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wondai QLD
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1728 hours on the night of 29 December 1943 Lancaster DS834 took off from Witchford , detailed to bomb Berlin. 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 2230 hours on a farmland at Tungelroij (Limburg), 5kms south south east of Weert, Netherlands. Four of the crew members were killed, two taken prisoner and one evaded capture.
The crew members of DS834 were:
Flight Sergeant Keith Selwyn Bell (414457) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant A F Gunnell (RAF) (Flight Engineer) Evaded then PoW, freed September 1944
Sergeant Graham Johnson (18186874) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Laurence Havard Jones (1576162) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant J Y Lee (1480142) (RAFVR) (Pilot) PoW
Sergeant H L Pike (1396474) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Flight Sergeant Arthur Morley Wilkinson (R/182329) (RCAF) (Mid Upper 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, 166/5/394