LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Walter Downes COCK

Service No: 421344
Born: Tamworth NSW, 17 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 221 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Luqa, Malta
Died: Air Operations (No. 221 Squadron Wellington aircraft HZ594), Southern Italy, 4 January 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Catania War Cemetery, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Morris Charles Downes Cock and Alice Cock, of Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gulgong NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gulgong ANZAC Memorial Park, Gulgong NSW

On 4 January 1944 Wellington HZ594 took off from Luqa detailed to escort a convoy and carry out an anti-submarine patrol. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was lost and all the crew members were killed.

The crew members of HZ594 were:

Flying Officer William Freeman Campbell (J/22247) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Walter Downes Cock (421344) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Carol James Daley (414537) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer Class I H G Reid (R/92101) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Harry Leonard Walker (413917) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Gordon George Wilde (403241) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)

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, 166/8/337
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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