LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Alan Charles William GRANT
Service No: 420185
Born: Pymble NSW, 26 march 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND744), France, 16 June 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Arras Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Allison Grant and Winifred Eleanor Grant, of Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Knox Grammar School Old Boys’ War Memorial, Wahroonga NSW
At 2319 hours on the night of 15 June 1944 Lancaster ND744 took from Oakington to bomb the railway yards at Valenciennes, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft crashed near Arras (Pas-de-Calais) France and four of the crew members had been killed and three taken prisoner.
The crew members of ND744 were:
Sergeant Thomas Barratt (1684379) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Alan Charles William Grant (420185) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Richard Charles Martin (J/89735) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant S C Masters (1323009) (Navigator) POW
Flight Sergeant S Nathanson (1334086) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator) PoW
Flight Sergeant R A Neills (1801181) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Sergeant William Albert Edward Newton (1292158) (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, 163/118/552
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line