LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Leslie Clifford POTTER
Service No: 409742
Born: North Fitzroy VIC, 16 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Pocklington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 102 Squadron Halifax aircraft LW159), France, 29 June 1944, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Coeuvres-et-Valsery Communal Cemetery, Aisne, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph William and Ethel Beatrice Potter; husband of Lorna Constance Potter, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Preston VIC
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2210 hours on the night of 28 June 1944 Halifax LW159 took off from Pocklington detailed to bomb railway facilities at Blainville, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Coeuvres-et-Valsery, (Aisne), 15 kms west south west of Soissons, France. The aircraft exploded and six of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of LW159 were:
Sergeant George Edward Frost (613715) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant James Alexander Ligertwood (1006198) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Robert John Messer (177070) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Leslie Clifford Potter (409742) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer Henry Rogers (173133) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant L Williams (1412174) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Warrant Officer I Robert J Wilson (R/153559) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/33/185