LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Gordon James MATHESON
Service No: 411037
Born: Cowra NSW, 18 February 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 March 1941
Unit: No. 148 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 148 Squadron Wellington aircraft HF848), Libya, 30 September 1942, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Harold and Helen Matheson, of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cowra NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2139 hours on the night of 30 September 1942 Wellington HF848 took off detailed to attack dock installations at Tobruk harbour. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed some distance south of Trigh-Cepuzzo and all the crew members were killed. The bodies of five of the crew of six were found in the wrecked aircraft.
The crew members of HF848 were:
Flight Sergeant Tom Harold Billingham (1204258) (RAFVR) (Pilot) Buried: Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt
Flight Sergeant Sydney Arthur Conibear (568019) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Leo John Labarge (R/54491) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Allan MacLean (403815) (Front Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Gordon James Matheson (411037) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Philip Henry Wood (1237468) (RAFVR) (Observer)
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, 163/142/479