LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Alan Percival REED
Service No: 409458
Born: Camberwell VIC, 24 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 142 Squadron (RAF), Kairouan, Tunisia
Died: Air Operations: (No. 142 Squadron Wellington aircraft HE580), Central Mediterranean, 13 July 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Percy Robert and Elsie Margaret Reed, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 11, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2053 hours on 13 July 1943 Wellington HE580 took off from Kairouan to attack an enemy target at Messina, Sicily. The route was from Base – Kelibia – Corridor – Cape San Marco- Milazza –
Messina, and return by the same route. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. In 1948 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HE580 were:
Pilot Officer Nelson Avery MID (134019) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Leonard Henry Burn (132397) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Ioan Douglas Crocker Evans (119886) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Alan Percival Reed (409458) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Donald Beattie Surrette (J/15690) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Stanley Carter Sykes (142886) (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, 166/35/104