LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Mervyn Harry HOLT
Service No: 402354
Born: Malvern VIC, 22 December 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 august 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 49 Squadron Hampden aircraft AF240), English Channel area, 12 February 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry and Janet Elizabeth Edith Holt, of St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Parramatta NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Parramatta High School Second World War Roll of Honour, Parramatta NSW
At 1443 hours on 12 February 1942 Hampden AF240 took off from Scampton to attack enemy battle cruisers “Scharnhorst” and “Gneisenau” in the English Channel. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. It was later recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of AF240 were:
Sergeant Mervyn Harry Holt (402354) (Pilot)
Sergeant Clifford Lawson Lee (926080) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Leslie Cyril Toghill (612946) (RAF)
Pilot Officer Stanley William Alfred Way (116133) (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, 163/123/209
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line