LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Joseph Thomas GILL
Service No: 425001
Born: Mitchell QLD, 8 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Metheringham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB566), Germany, 31 March 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Michael Joseph and Margaret Agnes Gill; husband of Dorothy Veronica Gill, of Sandgate, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mitchell QLD
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2227 hours on the night of 30 March 1944 Lancaster JB566 took off from Metheringham detailed to bomb Nuremburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and exploded near Berghausen, 11 miles west of Giessen, Germany. Five of the crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of JB566 were:
Sergeant C M Beston (1818332) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Sergeant R D Dack (1577857) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Joseph Thomas Gill (425001) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Thomas William John Hall DFM (133525) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Henry Parker (422350) (Navigator)
Sergeant Gilbert Anthony Poole (2220167) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant George Smith Robertson (1821069) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
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, 16/15/211