LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant William Leo Newton JOHNSTON
Service No: 404049
Born: Mossman QLD, 15 September 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 April 1940
Unit: No. 405 Squadron (RCAF), RAF Station Pocklington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 405 Squadron Wellington aircraft Z8419), Bay of Biscay area, 22 October 1941, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Samuel and Kate Johnston, of Mossman, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mossman QLD
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington Z8419 took off from Pocklington at 1815 hours on 22 October 1941 to attack Le Havre. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. The body of Flight Sergeant Jackson was washed ashore at Fecamp, on the northwest coast of France, 22 miles from Le Havre, and is buried in the Fecamp New Cemetery. It was later recorded that the remaining missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of Z8419 were:
Sergeant Lloyd Eldon Dodge (R/51644) (RCAF)
Sergeant Cyril Rowland Hall (R/74248) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Lawrence Herbert Jackson (R/60132) (RCAF)
Sergeant William Leo Newton Johnston (404049) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant George Frederick Marr (14040A) (RCAF)
Sergeant Percy Thomas Walter Walker (R/78239) (RCAF)
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, 163/129/133