LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Wilfred Milton EDMONDS

Service No: 403508
Born: Keymer, England, 12 August 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bottesford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5616), off the Danish Coast, 17 August 1942, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Fourfelt Cemetery (Esberg), Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Milton Eugene and Kezia Edmonds; husband of Sarah Joyce Edmonds, of Katoomba, New South Wales. Australia
Roll of Honour: Granville NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2100 hours on the night of 16 August 1942 Lancaster R5616 took off from Bottesford detailed to carry out a gardening mission and lay mines in the Geraniums area. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed into the sea south south west of Mano Island. Six of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.

The crew members of R5616 were

Sergeant Thomas Douglas (632776) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Wilfred Milton Edmonds (403508) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Andrew McLean (R/66065) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Dennis John Quinlan (J/6130) (RCAF) (Observer)
Sergeant J Read (810154) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Sergeant Robert Robson (954712) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Anthony Jeaffreson Southwell (108144) (RAF) (Pilot)

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, 163/30/72

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