LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Granville KING
Service No: 410000
Born: Auburn VIC, 13 April 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941
Unit: No. 166 Squadron (RAF), RAF Kirmington, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 166 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND705), off the Belgian Coast, 19 March 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Coxyde Military Cemetery, Koksijde, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Thorpe King and Lotty King, of Croydon, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Croydon VIC
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster ND705 took off from RAF Kirmington at 1910 hours on the night of 18/19th March 1944, detailed to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. It was presumed that the aircraft had crashed in the sea off the shores of Belgium and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of ND705 were:
Sergeant Ronald Emson (1500221) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Rex Arthur Glasson (417300) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Donald William Carlyon Hawken (156366) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Granville King (410000) (Navigator)
Sergeant Cyril William Lloyd (1603206) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Lewis Sylvester Preator (1319896) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant William John Proffitt (1029514) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader Donald Alec Sewell (47397) (RAF) (Pilot)
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, 166/22/211