LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Joseph Westley GREENING
Service No: 400222
Born: Loch VIC, 1 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1940
Unit: No. 75 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Feltwell
Died: Air Operations: (No. 75 Squadron Wellington aircraft W5621), North West Europe, 3 July 1941, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Clara Margaret Greening, of Toorak, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Toorak VIC
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2317 hours on 2 July 1941 Wellington W5621 took off from Station Feltwell, to attack a target in Essen. The aircraft was due over the target at 0130 hours on 4 July, but nothing further was heard from the aircraft which did not return to base. Other aircraft reported heavy anti-aircraft fire over the target. In 1950 it was recorded that the crew members were missing with no known graves.
The crew members of W5621 were:
Pilot Officer John Westley Greening (400222) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Roydon Horatio Hartstone (402111) (RNZAF)
Sergeant Richard Edward Haycock (942288) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Harold Jones (977479) (RAFVR)
Sergeant John Ross Nation (40945) (RNZAF)
Sergeant Ian Laurie Reid (391846) (RNZAF) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 1633/34/114