LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Edward CROAL
Service No: 411996
Born: Glasgow, Scotland, 30 September 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waddington
Died: Air Operations (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED355), Netherlands, 17 December 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Wymbritseradeel (Ijpecolsga) General Cemetery, Friesland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Ellen Croal; husband of Marjorie Merle Croal, of Canley Vale, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Liverpool NSW
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 17 December 1942 Lancaster ED355 took off from Waddington detailed to attack Nienburg, Germany. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter at 2022 hours onto the road between Waterloo and Harich (Friesland), some 15kms south south west of Sneek, Netherlands, and all the crew members were killed. A post war report by a Missing Research and Enquiry unit stated “the aircraft crashed in a field near Woudsend on 17 December 1942, presumably by enemy aircraft. Woudsend is approximately 7.5 miles north west of Lemmer, Friesland.”
The crew members of ED355 were:
Sergeant John Arthur Callan (567483) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Edward Croal (411996) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Glen Dening (405576) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Maurice Alfred Nias (120242) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Leonard George Powell (1359999) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William McBain James Stark (R/92640) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Gordon Bowden Wilkinson (1319418) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
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, 163/98/823