LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Kenroy Alfred JOLLEY DFC
Service No: 416967
Born: Clarence Park SA, 2 May 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 635 Squadron (RAF), RAF Downham Market, Suffolk
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 25 June 1944 (Citation Title: No. 97 Squadron (RAF))
Died: Air Operations (No. 635 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB706), Germany, 31 March 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Rheinberg Ware Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany.
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred William Elijah and Susanna Minerva Jolley, of South Plympton, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
The DFC awarded to Warrant Officer Jolley then serving with No. 97 Squadron (RAF) was that of a General Citation promulgated in London Gazette on 25 June 1944, page 2537.
On the night of the 30 March 1944, Lancaster JB706 took off from RAF Downham Market, Norfolk, at 2219 hours, detailed to bomb Nuremberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base.
The crew members of JB706 were:
Flying Officer Ronald Easson DFC (420166) (Navigator) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 31 October 1945
Flight Sergeant J Gardner (1452977) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Warrant Officer Kenroy Alfred Jolley DFC (416967) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant John Harold Nicholls DFC (403147) (Pilot) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 26 November 1945
Flight Sergeant William Donald Ogilvie (1313470) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Sidney Albert Charles Smith (180905) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant Alfred Whitehead (2206975) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
In a PoW Report Flight Lieutenant Nicholls stated: “An explosion in the fuselage set fire to the aircraft and damaged the elevator control and trim controls as well as loss of power in three engines. The aircraft was out of control and had commenced a stall spin with smoke issuing from the centre of the aircraft inside the fuselage. I gave the order to abandon but this was not acknowledged because the intercom was unserviceable. I baled out at about 17,000 feet. There was no crew member injured and no crew member still in the aircraft as far as I know. The aircraft landed in a field 30 kms north east of Coblenz. I was captured 24 hours later by German farmers. I have no information re Jolley or Whitehead.”
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/21/136