LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Arthur Henry CLARKE
Service No: 423651
Born: Enmore NSW, 3 March 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB765), France, 4 December 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Frederick and Maude Janet Elizabeth Clarke, of Lakemba, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1637 hours on 4 December 1944 Lancaster PB765 took off from Spilsby on a day/night operation against Heilbronn, Germany. The aircraft failed to return. Later investigation in 1947/48 established that the aircraft crashed in marshy terrain in a small forest about 2 miles north of Holtzweier on 4 December 1944. Holtzweier is situated about 36 miles south-west of Strasbourg, France. Three crew members were killed and four became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of PB765 were:
Pilot Officer Arthur Henry Clarke (423651) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant E F Dunn (2211106) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Pilot Officer R E Hill (157919) (RAFVR) PoW
Sergeant Edward Sharp (2210322) (RAFVR) Remains interred
Sergeant William Francis Turner (1483675) (RAFVR) Remains interred
Flying Officer George Lawler Wall (427046) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 24 October 1945
Pilot Officer William Henry Wulff (424930) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 29 October 1945
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, 166/7/745