LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Eric Ernest DEVERELL
Service No: 410221
Born: Wangaratta VIC, 19 December 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 December 1941
Unit: No. 78 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Breighton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 78 Squadron Halifax aircraft JD453), Germany, 31 August 1943, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Agnes Idona Deverell, of Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wangaratta VIC
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0004 hours on the morning of 31 August 1943 Halifax JD453 took off from Breighton detailed to bomb Monchengladbach, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. JD453 was shot down by the dual efforts of anti-aircraft fire and night fighters and crashed. Three crew members were killed and the others became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of JD453 were:
Sergeant Ronald George Collins MID (1392410) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Eric Ernest Deverell (410221) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Herbert Evans (1421169) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant C Hunt (619380) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Sergeant C F Jaggard (1318093) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Sergeant N Simpson (1091021) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant J E Ward (634730) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
W R Chorley records that “Sergeant Hunt was so incapacitated that he was unable to put his parachute on. Sergeant Collins then left the controls and assisted the Flight Engineer to bale out of
the stricken aircraft. He then returned to his cockpit to hold the aircraft level. This courageous act undoubtedly helped others to get out, but he was unable to make good his escape.”
The PoWs later stated “the inter com was damaged when the aircraft was hit and the bale out order was given by the call light. They had no knowledge of the fate of Deverell.”
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 4 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1943, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1996
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/9/158