LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Harry Campbell ODGERS
Service No: 400661
Born: Clifton Hill VIC, 19 October 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 October 1940
Unit: No. 84 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident: (No. 84 Squadron Blenheim aircraft), Myanmar, 24 January 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Rangoon War Cemetery, Myanmar
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry Isaac and Lillian Odgers, of Coburg, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Coburg VIC
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
For the aircrew the penalty of operating from bomb-cratered aerodromes was heavy, as when one Blenheim with an all-Australian crew, struck a crater when taking off for a raid on Bangkok on the night of 24th-25th January. The bomber was wrecked and the pilot, Sergeant Headlam, and the navigator, Sergeant Odgers, were killed; the gunner, Flight Sergeant Farrer, was severely injured.
Extract from Gillison, D.N. (Douglas Napier) (254475) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – Page 405
The crew members of the Blenheim were:
Flight Sergeant James Maynard Farrer (400115) (Air Gunner) Severely injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 22 August 1945
Sergeant Roswell Aubrey Headlam (408075) (Pilot)
Sergeant Harry Campbell Odgers (400661) (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 A9301, 400661