LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Edward Freese MARTIN
Service No: 403060
Born: Sydney NSW, 24 May 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 December 1940
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wickenby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Wellington aircraft BJ606), Belgium, 15 October 1942, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Heverlee War Cemetery, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward James Martin and Jessie Eleanor Martin, of Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Point Piper NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington BJ606 took off from Wickenby at 1842 hours on the night of 15/16 October 1942 to bomb Cologne, 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 was shot down by a night fighter and crashed
at Wintershoven (Limburg), 9 kms north north west of Tongereai, Belgium, and all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of BJ606 were:
Sergeant Robert Bayley (1210044) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Jack Johannesen (412146) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Edward Freese Martin (403060) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Edmund St Aubin Richardson (R/82608) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Alec Gordon Willans (1381545) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Geoffrey Charles Willis (1023440) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 163/39/76