LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William Frank HIGSON
Service No: 403512
Born: Sydney NSW, 31 October 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1941
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z1728), North West Europe, 14 September 1942, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Horace Sydney and Olive Clarine Higson, of Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Vaucluse NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington Z1728 took off at 0035 Hours on 14 September 1942 from Binbrook, to attack Bremen, Germany. The weather was fine over the target, with moderate anti-aircraft fire. 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 grave.
The crew members of Z1728 were:
Flight Sergeant Albert Ernest Harrison (1208881) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant William Frank Higson (403512) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Brian Pearson Lunn (999230) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Edward Havelock Riding (411187) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Eric Fielder Thomas (117131) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 163/122/152