LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Leslie John GILBERT DFM
Service No: 421012
Born: Perth WA, 21 May 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 299 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Keevil, Wiltshire
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 299 Squadron Stirling aircraft UJ819), off the French Coast, 6 June 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Freeman Gilbert and Mary Jane Gilbert; husband of Heather Mary Gilbert, of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 260, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Lismore Cenotaph, Lismore NSW
On 6 June 1944 Stirling UJ819 took off from Keevil to carry out an operational sortie in the vicinity of Caen, France. The aircraft did not return to base from this mission. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of UJ819 were:
Flight Sergeant Barry Alan Croft (420920) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer Arthur George Franklin (151909) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Leslie John Gilbert DFM (421012) (Pilot)
Sergeant Leslie George Knight (1577461) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Ernest Henry Mills (1850853) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Ronald Herbert Pizer (1156002) (RAFVR)
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, 166/15/259
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line