LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Ronald Leonard PURRY
Service No: 425099
Born: Wynnum QLD, 2 September 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 December 1941
Unit: No. 15 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Mildenhall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 15 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL889), France, 15 June 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leonard Baldwin Purry and Ruby Edith Purry, of Bondi, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 256, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2331 hours on 14 June 1944 Lancaster LL889 took off from Mildenhall to bomb Le Havre, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base.
The crew members of LL889 were:
Sergeant Christopher Felix Cantwell (1493381) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant R H Gilleade (1529488) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber) Evaded capture
Pilot Officer Noel Goodridge (410839) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Lowry Nixon (1796296) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Ronald Leonard Purry (425099) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald John Rolfe (1850207) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer James Kenneth Weir (133093) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Gilleade who survived the crash later stated “the aircraft was hit apparently by a rocket, when crossing the coast on the return journey from Le Havre at 7000 feet. The pilot advised the controls were unserviceable, the aircraft was on fire and he immediately instructed the crew to abandon the aircraft. Gilleade remembers nothing further until he landed on the ground and had no details on the fate of any other member of the crew.”
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, 166/33/180