LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant James Keith PATON
Service No: 400760
Born: Koroit VIC, 30 April 1908
Enlisted in the RAAF: `13 October 1940
Unit: No. 158 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station East Moor
Died: Air Operations: (No. 158 Squadron Halifax aircraft W1179), Netherlands, 20 July 1942, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Harlingen General Cemetery, Friesland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Louis and Margaret Ann Paton; husband of Blanche Evelyn Paton, of Boisdale, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Koroit VIC
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2343 hours on the night of 19 July 1942 Halifax W1179 took off from East Moor detailed to bomb Vegesack (Bremen, Germany). Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed into the Waddensee between the mainland and Terschelling. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W1179 were:
Sergeant Douglas George Jillings (902606) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant William McIntyre McLachlan (R/53905) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant James Keith Paton (400760) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Robertson Rennie (1057117) (RAFVR) (Mid Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick Henry George Simkins (927095) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Horace James Skelly (108003) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Roland Jack Smith (1225704) (RAFVR) (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 A705, 163/149/217