LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer John HARRIS
Service No: 403394
Born: Sydney NSW, 8 April 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 502 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station St Eval
Died: Air Operations: (No. 502 Squadron Whitley aircraft EB329), English Channel area, 10 October 1942, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Margaret Harris, of Castle Hill, New South Wales; husband of Helen Mary Harris, of Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Parramatta NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Braidwood Services Club Roll of Honour, Braidwood NSW
At 1105 hours on 10 October 1942 Whitley EB329 took off from St Eval for an anti-submarine sweep. The aircraft was later diverted from patrol to attack an enemy vessel. The aircraft acknowledged sighting the vessel at 1632 hours but did not acknowledge a request for amplification of its sighting report. At 1634 hours a third class bearing was obtained from St Eval of 223 degrees. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft which did not return to base. In 1948 it was concluded that the crew members were lost at sea.
The crew members of EB329 were:
Flight Sergeant Frederick Allison Andrews (965408) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Robert Scrymgeour Fraser (622629) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer John Harris (403394) (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Archie Walter Russell Morisse (101467) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Frederick Thompson (1159188) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Noel Alfred Gratian Wilberforce (120707) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
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, 163/120/610
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line