LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Desmond James CONROY
Service No: 418632
Born: St Kilda VIC, 14 April 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 May 1942
Unit: No. 26 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 25 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft HE855), North Sea, 26 November 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Stanislaus Conroy and Agnes Hamilton Conroy, of St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: St Kilda VIC
Remembered: Panel 192, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2230 hours on 25 November 1943 Wellington HE855 took off from RAF Station Wing to carry out a night cross country exercise, part of which was over the North Sea. The aircraft contacted
Docking at 2255 hours just before crossing the coast, and a second radio message was received, but nothing was heard from HE 855 after that. Searches were carried out but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew was found. It was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HE855 were:
Sergeant John Herbert Ashcroft (1512556) (RAFVR) (Second Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Desmond James Conroy (418632) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Albert Edward Ford (1421773) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Derek James Morley (1396508) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Baker Mould (R/193899) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Kenneth John Page (749356) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Lionel Groves Pullen (1258731) (RAFVR) (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, 166/8/306