LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Harry Thomas GROENNOU
Service No: 15979
Born: Penrith NSW, 20 October 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 July 1940
Unit: No. 10 Squadron, RAF Station Mount Batten, Devon
Died: Injuries from Aircraft Accident: (No. 10 Squadron Sunderland aircraft ML829), Plymouth Sound, 9 February 1945, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Bath (Haycombe) Cemetery, Somerset
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Franciscus Hendricus and Annie Groennou, of Leichhardt, New South Wales Australia.
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Rathmines Memorial Bowling Club, Rathmines NSW
On the 9th February 1945, Sunderland ML 829 took off from Plymouth Sound, at 0711 hours on an operational sortie. It failed to become airborne after passing the end of the flare path, struck the boom defence, broke up and sank almost immediately. Flight Sergeant Hore drowned and his body was recovered later, and Flight Sergeant Groennou died at 0845 hours in Station Sick Quarters from injuries received. Four of the crew were seriously injured, two slightly injured and three not injured but shocked.
The crew members of ML829 were:
Flight Sergeant Clifford Arthur Allison (8998) (Flight Engineer) Not injured / shocked, Discharged from the RAAF: 22 March 1946
Flight Sergeant Albert Ross Emerton (439628) (Air Gunner) Seriously Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 18 January 1946
Flying Officer Ivan Wynn Fielder (422798) (Pilot) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 19 February 1946
Flight Sergeant Harry Thomas Groennou (15979) (Flight Engineer) Killed
Flight Lieutenant Reginald William Stuart Gross DFC (265147) (Station Navigation Officer) Seriously Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 6 June 1947
Pilot Officer Peter Malcolm Hore (434172) (Air Gunner) Killed
Warrant Officer Herbert Douglas Randell MBE (411642) (Wireless Air Gunner) Not injured / shocked, Discharged from the RAAF: 9 October 1945
Flight Lieutenant Stanley Robert Hamilton Reeve (429485) (Pilot) Seriously injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 27 February 1946
Flight Lieutenant William Hubert Stockdale (O35235) (409455) (Second Pilot) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 26 February 1946
Flight Sergeant Malcolm MacGregor Summers (435004) (Wireless Air Gunner) Not injured / shocked, Discharged from the RAAF: 21 September 1945
Flight Sergeant Walter Norman Watts (422888) (Wireless Air Gunner) Seriously Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 9 January 1946
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/16/542
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ashworth, N. (Norman) The ANZAC Squadron: A history of No. 461 Squadron RAAF 1942-5, Hesperian Press Victoria Park WA 6100, 1994
Baff, K.C (Kevin), Maritime is Number Ten, K.C. Baff Netley SA, 1983
Joubert, P.B. (Sir Phillip Bennet) Birds and Fishes: the story of Coastal Command, Hutchinson and Company London, 1960
Southall, I.F. (Ivan Francis) (418900) They Shall Not Pass Unseen, Angus and Robertson Sydney NSW, 1956
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992