LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Clifford Harris DREWER
Service No: 417818
Born: Millicent SA, 22 February 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND590), France, 24 June 1944, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Warhem Communal Cemetery, Nord, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hubert Harris Drewer and Minna Little Drewer; husband of Rita Kathleen Drewer, of Millswood Estate, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Goodwood SA
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster ND590 took off from RAF Oakington at 0002 hours on the morning of 24 June 1944 to bomb a flying bomb site at Courbonne, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Post war enquiries by a Missing Research & Enquiry Unit established that the aircraft crashed at approx 0100 hours on 24 June 1944 in a field near Warhem, and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ND590 were:
Squadron Leader Reginald Wiseman Brown DFC (104694) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Eric Cornish (575796) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Clifford Harris Drewer (417818) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant William Alexander Irwin DFC (414632) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Charles Adrian McCarthy (410696) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant Ralph Nixon (1571977) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John Thomas Ward (1001977) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/10/260