LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Stanley Joseph MARRIAGE
Service No: 420697
Born: Hawthorn VIC, 14 October 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 460 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 460 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV160), Netherlands, 15 June 1943, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Amsterdam New Eastern Cemetery, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph and Ursula Amelia Marriage; husband of Annie Kathleen Marriage, of Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Coolamon NSW
Remembered: Panel 108, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Victory Memorial Gardens Cenotaph, Wagga Wagga NSW
Remembered: Coolamon District Honour Roll, Coolamon NSW
Remembered: Coolamon War Memorial, Coolamon NSW
Date: 14-15 June 1943
Target: Oberhausen
Total Force: Dispatched – 382, Attacking – 332
RAAF Force: No. 460 Dispatched – 22, Attacking – 21; No. 467 Dispatched – 12, Attacking – 10
Tons of Bombs Dropped: 573
Total Aircraft Lost: 17
RAAF Aircraft Lost: No. 460 – 3
The total damage at Duisburg itself (from 5 raids between 26 March and 12 May 1943) was now significant enough to allow the transference of effort to its two important satellite towns of Oberhausen and Mulheim, each of which received one attack during June.
The Oberhausen raid was performed with sky markers, but as these were grouped close together Australian crews were confident, especially as fires could be seen as far away as the Dutch coast on return. Two listed priority targets—a steel works and a boiler works—were both severely damaged.
Extracts from Herington, J. (John) (406545) Air War Against Germany and Italy 1939-1943, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1954 – Pages 484-5
Lancaster DV 160 took off from RAF Binbrook at 2257 hours on 14 June 1943 to attack Oberhausen, Germany. Bomb load was 1 x 4000 lb (1,800 kg) bomb and 56 x 30 lb (14 kg), 720 x 4 lb (2 kg) incendiaries. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. 22 aircraft from the squadron took part in the raid. It was established post war that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter crashing at 0221 hours on 15 June 43 at Schellingwoude, (Noord Holland) in the north eastern suburbs of Amsterdam.
The crew members of DV160 were:
Flight Sergeant Clement Ralph Buckeridge (414196) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Roger Ernest Crook (1320902) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Gordon William George Fletcher (1334452) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Donald Ross Grant (413307) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Edward Grimshaw (1127071) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Stanley Joseph Marriage (420697) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant James Rupert Morrison (14824) (Flight Engineer) PoW, Discharged from the RAAF: 28 November 1945
Flight Sergeant Morrison in a later statement said “The aircraft exploded in mid air. I was thrown clear but have no information re Buckeridge. After the aircraft was hit I heard Buckeridge say that he could not get the escape hatch open. The aircraft then blew up and I found myself in mid air.”
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster LM324 (Flying Officer William James Dennett (413178) (Pilot)) on 15 June 1943.
No. 460 Squadron lost Lancaster EE167 (Flight Sergeant George Robert Cope (411680) (Pilot)) on 15 June 1943.
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, 166/27/150
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Firkins, P. C. (Peter Charles) (441386) Strike and Return, Westward Ho Publishing City Beach WA, 1985