LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Bede James Veitch KING
Service No: 423760
Born: Wellington NSW, 8 May 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 49 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Fiskerton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 49 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB545), Netherlands, 16 December 1943, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Weststellingwerf (Wolvega) General Cemetery, Friesland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Terence James Veitch King, and Natalie Helen Avis King, of Montefiores, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wellington NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1627 hours on the night of 16 December 1943 Lancaster JB545 took off from Fiskerton to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter at 1832 hours when the aircraft was outbound. JB545 crashed at Sonnega (Friesland), and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of JB545 were:
Sergeant Wilfred Robert Day (1452920) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Edward Holloway (1580024) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Bede James Veitch King (423760) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ricardo Losa (R/154427) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Albert Edgar Arthur Marsland (1214303) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Gordon Lennox Ratcliffe (158689) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Thomas Rees (1313451) (RAFVR) (Wireless 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, 166/22/164