LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Robert John O’SULLIVAN MID
Service No: 415910
Born: Boulder WA, 4 September 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1942
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK985), Germany, 15 November 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Robert and Jessie Shilla O’Sullivan, of Subiaco, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Subiaco WA
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
Lancaster HK985 took off from RAF Witchford at 1240 hours on the 15th November 1944, detailed to bomb Dortmund, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research & Enquiry team reported “the aircraft crashed at 1540 hours on the 15th November 1944 four miles north east of Derne and all the crew were killed. Four members are buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery and remaining five crew members have no known grave.
The crew members of HK985 were:
Pilot Officer Felix Milton Burrows (427230) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader Hugh Wilfred Castle (122360) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Bernard Collinson (1549496) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Gordon Forbes Dawson (J/89896) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Horace Gribble (1397763) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Peter Derek Mullett (153056) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer Robert John O’Sullivan MID (415910) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Graham Mortimer Sampson (1608556) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Stuart Stickland (430523) (Air 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, 166/31/269