LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Clement Alfred Victor HARTLEY
Service No: 404585
Born: Townsville QLD, 25 June 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1940
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 49 Squadron Hampden aircraft AT126), North West Europe, 7 April 1942, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Victor Francis James Hartley and Kate Hartley; husband of Olive Mary Cecilia Hartley, of Hawthorne, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2354 hours on 6 April 1942 Hampden AT126 took off from Scampton to attack Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off, and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1950 that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of AT126 were:
Flight Sergeant Leslie Davis (741375) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Myrddin Griffiths (915076) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Clement Alfred Victor Hartley (404585) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Donald Parker Walmsley (1100114) (RAFVR)
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, 163/120/418