LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Noel George BRODRICK
Service No: 415611
Born: Mount Lawley WA, 28 February 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 37 Squadron (RAF), Tortorella, Italy
Died: Air Operations (No. 37 Squadron Wellington aircraft HE898), Central Mediterranean, 27 January 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Leslie and Eileen Catherine Brodrick, of Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 16, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Wellington HE898 of 37 Squadron took off at 1814 hours on the 27 January 1944 from Tortorella Landing Ground to bomb marshalling yards at Arezzo, Italy. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew had no known grave.
The crew members of HE898 were:
Sergeant John Henry Adams (1412902) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Noel George Brodrick (415611) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Leslie Wallace Creasey (51107) (RAF) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Thomas Lovegrove (412889) (RNZAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Frederick Street (1390547) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant Basil Graham Walsh (106046) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/6/401