LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Rex Arthur GLASSON
Service No: 417300
Born: Kadina SA, 9 January 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1942
Unit: No. 166 Squadron (RAF), RAF Kirmington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 166 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND705), off the Belgian Coast, 19 March 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Coxyde Military Cemetery, Koksijde, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur John and Olive Helena Glasson; husband of Yvonne Jean Glasson, of Mile End, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster ND705 took off from RAF Kirmington at 1910 hours on the night of 18 March 1944, detailed to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. It was presumed that the aircraft had crashed in the sea off the shores of Belgium and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ND 705 were:
Sergeant Ronald Emson (1500221) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Rex Arthur Glasson (417300) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Donald William Carlyon Hawken (156366) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Granville King (410000) (Navigator)
Sergeant Cyril William Lloyd (1603206) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Lewis Sylvester Preator (1319896) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant William John Proffitt (1029514) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader Donald Alec Sewell (47397) (RAF) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/15/204