LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Eric Ralph PEACE
Service No: 8309
Born: Koonya TAS, 5 September 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 June 1940 (at RAAF Station Laverton VIC)
Unit: No. 27 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Lichfield
Died: Air Operations (No. 27 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X3465), Leicestershire, 14 January 1945, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Oxford (Botley) Cemetery, Oxfordshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leo and Anne Peace, of Koonya, Tasmania, Australia; husband of Muriel Esther Peace, of Glenorchy, Tasmania
Roll of Honour: Koonya TAS
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 14/15 January 1945, Wellington X3465 took off from Lichfield as part of a force comprising 126 aircraft, all drawn from training units, tasked to fly over the North Sea as a diversionary ploy. The aircraft encountered bad weather and on return X3465 crashed at 2358 while attempting to land at Wymeswold. Five of the crew members were injured and Flying Officer Peace was killed in the crash.
The crew members of X3465 were:
Flying Officer Kevin Elwin Cranley (434971) (Pilot) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 4 December 1945
Flying Officer John Hedley Hann (429950) (Air Bomber) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 28 February 1946
Flying Officer Eric Frederick Keith Minns (36889) (Mid Upper Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 1 March 1946
Flying Officer Eric Ralph Peace (8309) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer James Filmer Reuter (434412) (Wireless Air Gunner) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 12 March 1946
Flying Officer David Graham Thomson (432596) (Navigator) Injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 4 December 1945
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, 166/32/616