LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Donald Harold MILNE
Service No: 416596
Born: Wirrabara SA, 26 November 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1941
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Graveley, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 35 Squadron Halifax aircraft HR673), Belgium, 4 July 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Heverlee War Cemetery, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur and Eva Milne, of Wirrabara, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Wirrabara SA
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Brother of Sergeant Angus Milne (407091)
Halifax HR673 took off from RAF Graveley at 2304 hours on the night of 3 July 1943, detailed to bomb Cologne, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0029 hours at Reims (Limburg), 10 kms north east of Tongeren. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of HR673 were:
Sergeant Robert Abner Hugh Bowring (133462) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony Graham Cox (1384312) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Jolly (1129588) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Peter Richard Lissner (1385054) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Donald Harold Milne (416596) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Reginald Maxwell Smith (1045872) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Kenneth Wolstencroft (1117841) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
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, 166/27/160