LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Harold Dawson GRIMES

Service No: 404532
Born: Balasore India, 15 April 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 September 1940 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 75 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Feltwell
Died: Air Operations: (No. 75 Squadron Wellington aircraft W5663), Germany, 15 October 1941 Aged 26 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Ernest and Mary Ethel Grimes, of Taringa, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

On the night of 15 October 1941, Wellington W5663 took off from Feltwell detailed to bomb Cologne, Germany. Nothing was hard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed near Dusseldorf, Germany. Four of the crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War.

The crew members of W5663 were:

Sergeant Richard Charlwood Barker (1006907) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant David Levick Beney (960078) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant G F Cole (961126) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Harold Dawson Grimes (404532) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Trevor Bernard Robertson (404948) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant J B Stephenson (R/65625) (RCAF) (Air Gunner) PoW

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, 163/118/217

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