LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Thomas William HENNESSY
Service No: 412314
Born: Kempsey NSW, 22 February 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 June 1941
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL640), Germany, 18 March 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Linford, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Herbert and Mary Alice Hennessy, of West Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Kempsey NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Kempsey War Memorial, Kempsey NSW
At 1946 hours on the night of 18 March 1944 Lancaster LL640 took off from Witchford detailed to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team reported “the aircraft crashed at Fohren-Linder, approximately 28 miles north east of Saarbrucken, Germany.” Six of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of LL640 were:
Sergeant Benjamin Edward Ansell (1397244) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Allan Stanley Frampton (42389) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Thomas William Hennessy (412314) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant S R J Price (1582682) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant Ronald Geoffrey Rivers (1386079) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Peter Frederick Willis-Culpitt (1323441) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Charles Hugh Winters (J/92602) (RCAF) (Rear 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, 166/17/510
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line