LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Bruce Frederick GREENWOOD
Service No: 424584
Born: Bexley NSW, 28 June 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 September 1942
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Snaith
Died: Prisoner or War (Executed) (following the loss of No. 51 Squadron Halifax aircraft MZ348), Germany, 22 March 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Locality Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Fredrick Clarence and Gladys Greenwood, of Eastwood, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Eastwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Eastwood War Memorial, Eastwood NSW
At 1502 hours on 21 March 1945 Halifax MZ348 took off from Snaith detailed to bomb Rheine, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed on to farmland near Bevergern some 10 kms north north east of Rheine. All the crew members landed safely by parachute but within 24 hours four of the crew members had been shot. The other three crew members were taken prisoner.
The crew members of MZ348 were:
Flight Sergeant Alexander Armstrong (1567638) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Keith William Berick (424950) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 19 February 1946
Pilot Officer Bruce Frederick Greenwood (424584) (Navigator)
Sergeant Richard Francis Gunn (1721922) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant L Hart (1594114) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Sergeant W Hood (1592286) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer John Edwin Paradise (426148) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Berick later reported “After leaving the target at 10,000 feet the aircraft was bombed by the aircraft above it. One bomb fell through the wing just aft of the port nacelle, The port fin was knocked off and the rudder controls were useless. The A/c lost height rapidly. All except the Rear Gunner were not injured and I was unsure about the Rear Gunner. I baled out at 9,000 feet. The others were still in the aircraft. I was captured immediately and have no news re the others. I saw the Captain at the Gestapo.” In December 1945 a War Crimes investigation report stated “the three perpetrators are known and the evidence against them is complete. We are trying to locate the three one of whom is in Russian held territory to bring them to justice.”
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, 166/16/601
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line