LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Ronald Martin HERAPATH
Service No: 417706
Born: Middlesex, England, 22 March 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 July 1942 (at Adelaide SA)
Unit: No. 195 Squadron (RAF), RAF Wratting Common, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 195 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK697), Germany, 12 December 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sydney Francis Harry and Elsie Palmer Herapath, of Dulwich, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Burnside SA
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster HK697 took off from RAF Wratting Common at 1126 hours on the 12th December 1944, detailed to bomb Witten, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team reported later “the aircraft crashed at Oberwiese on the Dortmund-Ems Canal. The lock keeper stated that the aircraft exploded.” Six of the crew were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of HK697 were:
Sergeant George Creaser (1594993) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Thomas Hartland (1851465) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Albert Edward Halliwell (175048) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Ronald Martin Herapath (417706) (Pilot)
Sergeant W H A Horton (1581905) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) PoW
Sergeant Donald James Job (1601203) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Raymond Charles Starkey (531899) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/17/908