LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Francis John COOK
Service No: 429526
Born: Rockhampton QLD, 8 March 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 October 1942
Unit: No. 186 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Tuddenham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 186 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM165), Germany, 15 October 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander David and Hilda Mary Cook, of Anakie, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Rockhampton QLD
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2252 hours on 14 October 1944 Lancaster LM165 took off from Tuddenham to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Post war examination of German documents revealed that LM165 was shot down at Meidrich at 0145 hours on 15 October. The aircraft was one of 19 aircraft which failed to return from the Duisberg raid. All 19 were shot down in the Duisberg area, but it was not possible in all cases to determine which of the 19 each individual report referred to. The remains of those who lost their lives in the 19 aircraft were buried by the Germans in various cemeteries in the district. Some were identified, but in the case of the majority it was not possible to determine which aircraft they had come from. German records show that four of LM165’s crew members had been identified prior to their original burial, although it was not possible to establish who they were. All the unidentified were laid to rest in a War Cemetery as unknown airmen who had no known grave.
The crew members of LM165 were:
Flight Sergeant Francis John Cook (429526) (Pilot)
Sergeant Kenneth Brian Howell (1581325) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Frederick Henry William James (1896671) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Kenneth Morrell (1397720) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant William Paston Liddon Purnell-Edwards (605673) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant George Irving Read (2215997) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant John Robert Sunley (1623987) (RAFVR) (Rear 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, 166/8/682