LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Leslie Ronald JOHNSON
Service No: 412967
Born: Penrose NSW, 26 January 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Syerston
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5573), Belgium, 9 July 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Heverlee War Cemetery, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of August and Gladys May Johnson; husband of Dorothy Isabel Johnson, of Bowral, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Aylmerton NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2230 hours on the night of 8 July 1943 Lancaster R5573 took off from Syerston detailed to bomb Cologne, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was on its way back from Germany and crashed in flames 2 kms west of Harze at 0200 hours on 9 July. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of R5573 were:
Sergeant Ronald Charles Barrett (1164249) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Edward Hannell (1388875) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Ronald Johnson (412967) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Samuel Leigh (616090) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Hector Wally McLean (R/109281) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Donald Hugh McLeod (R/128853) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Reginald William Lingfield Muir (1388470) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/21/45