LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Wilfred Gordon BURROWS
Service No: 411739
Born: Melbourne VIC, 2 May 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1941
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft I W4372), North West Europe, 18 January 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Phyllis Mabel Burrows; husband of Jean Ethel Burrows, of Netherby, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Lindfield VIC
Remembered: Panel 190, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster W4372 took off at 1634 hours on 17 January 1943 from RAF Station Wickenby to bomb Berlin. No further news of the aircraft or crew was received.
The crew members of W4372 were:
Pilot Officer Wilfred Gordon Burrows (411739) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Stewart Hunter (1018437) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Andrew Mitchell (1003659) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Robert Bruce Mullinger (411595) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Alan Frank Neale (401528) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Leslie Henry Richardson (1216870) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Eric Bayly Withell (414713) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
The body of Sergeant Mitchell was washed ashore at Nymindegab, on the south west coast of Denmark, and is buried at Esbjerg, Denmark.
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, 166/6/21