LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Claudius William Samuel OLIVER
Service No: 403173
Born: Adelaide SA, 20 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 December 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 149 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lakenheath
Died: Air Operations: (No. 149 Squadron Stirling aircraft R9162), Kattegat, 11 August 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Larvik Civil Cemetery, Norway
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Samuel and Madeleine Evelyn de Jersey Oliver, of North Bondi, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Waratah NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 10 August 1942 Stirling R9162 took off from Lakenheath detailed to carry out gardening mission and lay mines in the Silverthorn area. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was presumed that the aircraft crashed in the Kattegat and all the crew members lost their lives. Three bodies were washed ashore and the other four crew members have no known grave.
The crew members of R9162 were:
Sergeant Norman Percy Gregson (569763) (RAF)
Flight Sergeant Claudius William Samuel Oliver (403173) (Pilot)
Sergeant Leonard Robert Sims (1388435) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Garnet Floyd Smith (R/82895) (RCAF)
Sergeant James Henry Storey (925655) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Henry Streater (1280887) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Charles Sutton (118617) (RAFVR)
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, 163/148/274