LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Norman Smith FORRESTER
Service No: 405011
Born: Singleton NSW, 1 June 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 January 1941(at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 37 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 37 Squadron Wellington aircraft HF847), off the Italian Coast, 21 February 1943, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Andrew Cooper Forrester and Ada Alice Forrester, of Manly, New South Wales, Australia. Chartered Accountant
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2030 hours local time on the night of 20 February 1943Wellington HF847 took off from Gardabia aerodrome to attack Palermo, Sicily. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was lost and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of HF847 were:
Flight Sergeant Warwick Hilson Beaver (1027038) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Philip Duffy (1359994) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Norman Smith Forrester (405011) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer II Edward Francis Fournier (R/98467) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Albert John Jenner (41334) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Edmund Thompson (656636) (RAFVR) (Second 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, 166/14/12