LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Robert BROOK
Service No: 401587
Born: Ascot Vale VIC, 10 March 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 March 1941
Unit: No. 97 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Woodhall Spa
Died: Air Operations: (No. 97 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5496), Germany, 5 September 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Becklingen War Cemetery, Soltau, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Lucy Brook, of Middle Park, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: South Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0005 hours on the morning of 5 September 1942 Lancaster R5496 took off from Woodhall Spa to bomb Bremen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft as lost and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of R5496 were:
Sergeant Robert Brook (401587) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Stanley Cooper (655307) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant George Henry Peter Dean (551023) (RAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Sidney Martin Girvin (1113555) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Forbes Gray (1111477) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Richard Oxley (1127680) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Terence Raymond Whitehead (1251376) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/93/656