LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Lester James KELLY
Service No: 414142
Born: Murwillumbah NSW, 14 March 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 August 1941 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 622 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Mildenhall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 622 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL793), North West Europe, 22 May 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Lester Kelly and Elizabeth Kelly, of Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 258, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2255 hours on 21 May 1944 Lancaster LL793 took off from Mildenhall to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Nothing further was heard of the aircraft or crew after take-off. In 1950 the crew members were recorded as missing with no known graves.
The crew members of LL793 were:
Pilot Officer Davy George Blackmore (425976) (RNZAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Robert Hepburn Campbell (424286) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer James Alfred Harris (11604) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Lester James Kelly (414142) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Alan Notley (1322116) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Bertram Edmund Wareham (1703303) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Douglas Bertram White (1579461) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/22/248