LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Angus Albert McGRATH
Service No: 429239
Born: Wagga Wagga NSW, 21 April 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 November 1942
Unit: No. 103 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elsham Wolds
Died: Air Operations: (No. 103 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NF909), Germany, 24 February 1945, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William James McGrath and Emily May McGrath, of The Rock, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: The Rock NSW
Remembered: Panel 283, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Victory Memorial Gardens Cenotaph, Wagga Wagga NSW
Lancaster NF909 took off from Elsham Wolds on the night of 23/24 February 1945 for a mission against Pforzheim, Germany. The aircraft did not return to base, and nothing further was heard from it. Later it was learned that the five RAF crew members had become Prisoners of War and the two RAAF members were missing.
The crew members of NF909 were:
Sergeant M C Godfrey (1852356) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flying Officer Clifford Seymour Hart (428697) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jones (2221434) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant K F Lord (1621360) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Angus Albert McGrath (429239) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant W D Rich (1166328) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant K C Williams (1601133) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
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, 166/26/813
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Charlwood, D.E.C. (Donald Ernest Cameron) (408794) No Moon Tonight (Angus and Robertson 1956), Penguin Ringwood VIC, 3134, 1991