LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Leslie Walter ROPER
Service No: 409597
Born: Prahran VIC, 6 August 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Syerston
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED385), Germany, 4 September 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Cyril and Nellie Roper, of Bentleigh, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1930 hours on the night of 3 September 1943 Lancaster ED385 took off from Syerston detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team report stated “the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed in a forest near Burgdorf 12 miles north east of Hanover.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ED385 were:
Sergeant Kenneth Ernest Bright (648514) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ernest Albert Cannon (R/182457) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Andrew Steel Carscadden (1344908) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harry Fisher (1139038) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Leslie Walter Roper (409597) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer II Kenneth Douglas Wellwood (R/122275) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Ronald Clifford Woolnough (1213595) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
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, 166/36/108