LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Karl Hugo EKLUND
Service No: 404887
Born: Brisbane QLD, 27 January 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1940
Unit: No. 144 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station North Luffenham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 144 Squadron Hampden aircraft AT194), off the Dutch Coast, 24 February 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hugo Emanuel Andreas and Kathleen Annie Eklund, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1837 hours on the night of 24 February 1942 Hampden AT194 took off from North Luffenham detailed to carry out a gardening operation and lay mines off the Terschelling Island, near the coast of Friesland, Holland. The aircraft was due over the target at 2030 hours. Nothing was heard from the AT194 after take-off and it did not return to base. Pilots of other aircraft reported moderate anti-aircraft fire with a number of enemy aircraft patrolling the area. Sergeant Anderson’s body was washed ashore on the west coast of Jutland, Denmark, but no trace of the three missing crew members has been found and they are recorded as having lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of AT194 were:
Sergeant Geoffrey Hamilton Anderson (402214) (Navigator)
Sergeant James Robert Dobson (950135) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Karl Hugo Eklund (404887) (Pilot)
Sergeant Peter Anthony Thomas (755868) (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, 163/107/87