LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Harold Stanley FIDGE
Service No: 409037
Born: Rochester VIC, 6 May 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1941
Unit: No. 514 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waterbeach
Died: Air Operations: (No. 514 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL681), North West Europe, 20 February 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Louis Edmund and Mary Ann Fidge, of Echuca, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Undera VIC
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0017 hours on 20 February 1944 Lancaster LL681 took off from Waterbeach to attack Leipzig, Germany. The aircraft failed to return to base from this mission. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of LL681 were:
Sergeant William Alexander Bates (1585341) (RAF) (Air Bomber)
Warrant Officer I James David Dodding (R/133286) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Warrant Officer Harold Stanley Fidge (409037) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Leonard John Kingwell (133610) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Edward Knight (1396522) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Dennis William Newbury (1812145) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Harry Taylor (1581481) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Harold Marcus Whichelow (1220052) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
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, 166/13/191