LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Jack Dawson GREEN
Service No: 419408
Born: Glenferrie VIC, 27 December 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 4 September 1942
Unit: No. 603 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 603 Squadron Spitfire aircraft SM473), Netherlands, 17 March 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Barendrecht General Cemetery, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Dawson Green and Elise Maude Green, of Camberwell. Victoria. Australia
Roll of Honour: Camberwell VIC
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1455 hours on the 17 March 1945, Spitfire SM473 took off to carry out an armed reconnaissance on a junction north east of Utrecht, Holland. The aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed killing Warrant Officer Green.
The Commanding Officer of No. 603 Squadron who was leading the formation on this operation, later reported: “at 1410 hours on 17th March 1945, I was leading the formation attack a junction north east of Ultrecht. The Squadron attacked and reformed successfully. At 1435 hours White 2
(Green) reported that a three ton truck was behind the formation and I ordered Blue Section to attack, but as the truck entered the Dutch village before this was possible and Blue Leader refrained from doing so owing to the possibility of civilian casualties. On seeing Blue section was not attacking, I set course for elsewhere, and did not notice the absence of White 2 until the Squadron reformed into battle formation. White 4 reported on landing that he saw White 2 attack the vehicle in the face of intense light anti-aircraft fire. About this time I heard someone call on the radio that they had been hit, but as there were several sections engaged on dive bombing and using the same radio frequency, I did not attribute this call to our Squadron as no call sign had been given.”
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, 166/16/593