LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Lester Bertram HOLMES
Service No: 410335
Born: Portland VIC, 11 August 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 December 1941
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Fiskerton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 49 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB231), France, 19 July 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: St-Ouen-en-Domprot Churchyard, Marne, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Bertram and Charlotte Elizabeth Stella Holmes, husband of Gwynneth Elizabeth Holmes, of Heywood, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2240 hours on the night of 18 July 1944 Lancaster PB231 took off from Fiskerton detailed to destroy a railway junction at Revigny, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter when outbound and crashed at St-Ouen-en-Domprot (Marne), France. Five of the crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of PB231 were:
Sergeant William George Barlow (2206343) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Vincent Gallagher (1621052) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Warrant Officer Lester Bertram Holmes (410335) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Clifford Lacy DFC (173283) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ivan Shingles (1683367) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Douglas James Ryan (426393) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Charles Wellein (RCAF) (Rear Gunner) PoW
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 5 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1944, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1997
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/18/409