LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Ronald Palmer GODFREY
Service No: 400706
Born: Young NSW, 6 June 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 October 1940 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 459 Squadron, Landing Ground 226
Died: Air Operations: (No. 459 Squadron Hudson aircraft FH258), Mediterranean, 28 July 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Edward and Hannah Lucy Godfrey; husband of Lorna Frances Godfrey, of Mathoura, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mathoura NSW
Remembered: Column 265, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Mathoura War Memorial, Mathoura NSW
On 28 July 1942, the crew of Hudson FH258 did not return from a shipping strike between Sidi Barrani and Matruh. Post war, it was learned that the aircraft had been shot down and Pilot Officer Godfrey had been killed in the battle and the other crew members had become Prisoners of War. The crew members of FH258 were:
Warrant Officer John Lancelot Evans (400510) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF; 4 October 1945
Pilot Officer Ronald Palmer Godfrey (400706) (Navigator)
Warrant Officer Frederick Alfred Sturt (402621) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 October 1945
Flying Officer Sydney Thomas Wickham (402268) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 24 December 1945
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9816, 145 (No. 459 Squadron Unit History)
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Kane-Maguire L. (Leon) Desert Scorpions: 459 Squadron RAAF 1942-1945, Australian Military History Publications Loftus NSW 2232, 2007
Vincent, D. (David) The RAAF Hudson Story Book 1, D. Vincent Highbury SA 5089, 1989