LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Vincent Gerald BERRIMAN
Service No: 17354
Born: West Perth WA, 23 January 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 July 1940
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NG342), Germany, 9 April 1945, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Hamburg Cemetery, Hamburg, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Vincent and Dorothy Edith Berriman; husband of Glen Berriman, of Scarborough, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
Lancaster NG342 took off from RAF Skellingthorpe at 1442 hours on 9 April 1945 detailed to bomb Hamburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A report by a Missing Research & Enquiry team stated “the aircraft crashed and exploded at the village of Wollingst on 9 April 1945 presumably as a result of enemy action. Wollingst is 28 miles north of Bremen, Germany.
The crew members of NG342 were:
Flying Officer Vincent Gerald Berriman (17354) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Norman Lewis Garfield Felton (1580371) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Eric Ford (1851367) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Anthony William Jones (1614174) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Power Newbigging (1673392) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ernest Arthur Walker (1876300) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Ernest Richard Westacott (1398165) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/5/1065