LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Richard Walter MERCER
Service No: 425714
Born: Rockhampton QLD, 19 April 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1942
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Dunholme Lodge
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PD222), France, 14 August 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Crozon Communal Cemetery, Finistere, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alexander and Elizabeth Mercer, of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Rockhampton QLD
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1824 hours on 14 August 1944Lancaster PD222 took off from Dunholme Lodge to attack shipping at Brest, France. The aircraft crashed at Crozon (Finistere) on the south side of the Rade at Brest, and five of the crew members were killed, one taken prisoner and one evaded capture.
The crew members of PD222 were:
Flying Officer Hugh Gordon Gilchrist (J/25813) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Denis Joseph Maguire (1671268) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Martin McAulay (J/28898) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Malcolm McLeod (R/151652) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant D G McNeilage (R/209169) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner) Evaded capture
Flying Officer Richard Walter Mercer (425714) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant J G Webb (530869) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW, Injured
Sergeant Webb later stated that Flying Officer Mercer had baled out, but when the Germans brought him to the flak post they found he had lost his life. He believed the others had been killed except McNeilage.”
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 A 705, 166/27/543