LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer George William Marshall HARRISON

Service No: 400517
Born: Ballarat VIC, 29 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 September 1940
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Swinderby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5689), Thurlby, Lincolnshire, 19 September 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Thurlby (St Germain) Churchyard, Lincolnshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel Forshaw Harrison and Caroline Harrison, of East Ballarat, Victoria, Australia; husband of Betty Rose Harrison, of Gainsborough.
Roll of Honour: Ballarat VIC
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1915 hours on the night of 18 September 1942 Lancaster R5689 took off from Swinderby detailed to carry out a gardening (mine-laying) operation. R5689 crashed at 00130 hours at Thurlby, Lincolnshire, when both port engines failed as the aircraft was returning from the mission and preparing to land. Four of the crew members were killed and the others survived the crash.

The crew members of R5689 were:

Sergeant John William Hamilton Dalby (404882) (Wireless Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 16 September 1944
Sergeant J Fraser (R/4236A) (RCAF) (Air Gunner) Survived
Sergeant Sidney Charles Garrett (651255) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant James Reginald Gibbons (R/91886) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer George William Marshall Harrison (400517) (Observer)
Sergeant Harry Male (953414) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edward John Morley (405132) (Pilot) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 21 October 1944

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, 163/35/215

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