LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Harry William George COCKREM
Service No: 414001
Born: Cairns QLD, 12 April 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 10 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Melbourne
Died: Air Operations: (No. 10 Squadron Halifax aircraft HX159), Germany, 27 September 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Alfred Herman Cockrem and Margaret Cockrem, of Gordonvale, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cairns QLD
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1921 hours on the night of the 27 September 1943, Halifax HX159 took off from Melbourne detailed to bomb Hanover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and five of the crew members were killed and two taken prisoner.
The crew members of HX159 were:
Pilot Officer R F G Barker (156042) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant P D Craven (1458865) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Pilot Officer Harry William George Cockrem (414001) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Eric George James Marsh (162788) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant H W Nash (1576551) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Peter Panos (425208) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Henry Arthur Stanworth (1542987) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/8/244