LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Lionel Maurice BENSTED
Service No: 404428
Born: Brisbane QLD, 16 February 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1940
Unit: No. 215 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 215 Squadron Wellington aircraft BB514), India, 10 June 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Henry and Ilma Martha Bensted, of Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Column 421, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 11 October 1941, Sergeant Bensted was slightly injured in the loss of Wellington X9677 in which Sergeant Robert Worrall Stephenson (404418) was killed.
On an operational flight on 10 June 1942, Wellington BB514 was destroyed by an explosion and crashed 4 miles south east of Ghafagon, India.
The crew members of BB514 were:
Sergeant Lionel Maurice Bensted (404428) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Bert Lawrence George Fuller (1377586) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Gerald Ross Gregory (400321) (Observer)
Sergeant George Hill (946109) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Archibald Cowen Honeyman (404549) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Alan Maxwell McLean (402387) (Pilot)
It was reported that the remains of the crew members were buried with full military honours by local police in three graves. All graves were subsequently covered by flood waters and no marking or removal of remains to a cemetery was impossible due to remoteness of location. In a 1948 report it was stated that after searching no trace of the graves could be found, and the remains could not be located for transfer to a British Military cemetery. Ghafagon is 52 miles north of Dacca in a remote locality and subject to flooding from the Brahmaputra River.
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, 163/91/124