LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Henry Arthur Laurence ELLIS DFC
Service No: 412932
Born: Waverley NSW, 23 May 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 77 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elvington
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 77 Squadron Halifax aircraft LL143), North West Europe, 20 February 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Gordon Daniel and Fanny Elizabeth Ellen Ellis, of Waverley, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Waverley NSW
Remembered: Panel 256, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
DFC Citation: One night in November 1943, Pilot Officer Ellis piloted an aircraft detailed to attack
Leverkusen. When nearing the target the bomber came under heavy fire from the ground defences. Two of the aircraft’s engines were hit and other damage sustained. Undeterred, Pilot Officer Ellis flew on to the target and pressed home his attack. Not long afterwards both the defective engines became useless. In spite of this Pilot Officer Ellis flew the bomber to base. He displayed superb skill, great courage and resolution.
At 2331 hours on the night of 19 February 1944 Halifax LL143 took off from Elvington on an operational sortie to bomb Leipzig, Germany. The aircraft did not return and nothing further was heard of aircraft or crew who were on their 30th operation. Both the aircraft and crew were lost without trace and the crew members have no known graves.
The crew members of LL143 were:
Flight Lieutenant Henry Arthur Laurence Ellis DFC (412932) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Donald Fletcher (412942) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Charles William George Graham (171278) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Peter Hendry Jones Mackie (171615) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Herbert Frederick Payne (1271687) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Northcott Schofield (1604023) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Robert Denis Sullivan (138898) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/11/112