LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Eric Leslie HYND
Service No: 404404
Born: Brisbane QLD, 7 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1940
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Stirling aircraft N3754), Germany, 26 June 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Wilhelmine Hynd, of Albion, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2330 hours on the night of 25 June 1942 Stirling N3754 took off from Oakington to bomb Bremen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and four of the crew members were killed and three had become Prisoners of War.
The crew members of N3754 were:
Sergeant Errol Edward Green (402795) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 4 November 1945
Sergeant Eric Leslie Hynd (404404) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Ketchell (900301) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Raymond Edmund Little (628631) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant James obsonR Mason (1154558) (RAFVR) PoW
Sergeant Tom Morris (1194833) (RAFVR) PoW
Sergeant Reginald Claude Williamson DFM (646510) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
In a later report the then Flight Lieutenant Green stated “During night operations on 25/26th June 1942 as a result of enemy action the crew were ordered to abandon the aircraft. Shortly after the aircraft became uncontrollable and lost height quickly. I believe Sergeant Hynd was unable to make his escape. The Germans told me that those that did not take to their parachutes lost their lives instantly when the aircraft crashed.”
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, 163/124/156