LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Roy Lawrence GEHRIG
Service No: 421899
Born: Hume Weir NSW, 20 May 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1942
Unit: No. 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Downham Market, Norfolk
Died: Air Operations: Hamburg and Raids on Italy (No. 218 Squadron Stirling aircraft EJ105), Germany, 23 September 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Joseph and Emma Christine Gehrig, of Henty, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Henty NSW
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Stirling EJ105 took off from RAF Downham Market at 1850 hours on the night of 22/23rd September 1943, detailed to bomb Hanover, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and abandoned by three members of the crew, two of whom became Prisoners of War while the other was killed. The Aircraft Captain regained the East Anglia coast, but with one engine on fire the aircraft crashed on 23rd September 1943 at Hall Farm, Barrow, 5 miles west south west of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and the four crew members on board were killed.
The crew members of EJ105 were:
Pilot Officer Rodney Ernest Duffy (413838) (Pilot) Killed in crash
Flight Sergeant Thomas Douglas Ellis (415076) (Navigator) Killed in crash
Flight Sergeant Roy Lawrence Gehrig (421899) (Air Gunner) Baled out, Killed
Sergeant C Kemmery (1353708) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Baled out, PoW
Flight Sergeant Arthur Henry John Morgan (416013) (RNZAF) (Wireless Air Gunner) Killed in crash
Pilot Officer Wilfrid Selwyn Pryce-Williams (151019) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) Killed in crash
Flight Sergeant C Rutherford (1522019) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Baled out, PoW
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/15/121