LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Edmund Joseph KELLY
Service No: 429341
Born: Koongal QLD, 19 March 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 September 1942
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD331), Netherlands, 23 October 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Winterswijk Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Joseph and Mary Cecilia Kelly, of Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster PD331 took off from RAF Wickenby at 1608 hours on the night of 23 October 1944 to bomb Essen, 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 crashed on the Dutch/German border at Huppel (Gelderland), 6 kms north east of Winterswijk and all crew members were killed.
The crew members of PD331 were:
Flight Sergeant Ian Hunter Fleming (436537) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Edmund Joseph Kelly (429341) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Bevan Llewellyn (423544) (Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Douglas Wallace MacLean (420354) (Pilot)
Sergeant Frank William Niblett (1897417) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer John Philip (420045) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Harold Rowley (424838) (Mid Upper Gunner)
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, 166/22/343