LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Claude Besnard SAUTELLE
Service No: 411390
Born: Bombala NSW, 25 June 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 April 1941
Unit: No. 142 Squadron (RAF), RAF Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 142 Squadron Wellington aircraft BJ768), France, 8 November 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Vannes (Boismoreau) Communal Cemetery, Morbihan, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Besnard Sautelle and Fanny Katherine Sautelle; husband of Sylvia Grace Sautelle, of Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cathcart NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Bombala War Memorials, Bombala NSW
Wellington BJ768 took off from RAF Grimsby at 1741 hours on the night of 8/9th November, 1942, detailed to carry out a gardening operation and lay mines in French coastal waters. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after-take off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was established that all the crew had lost their lives.
The crew members of BJ768 were:
Pilot Officer Douglas James Bradshaw (119905) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Ronald Granville Evison (1214198) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Cyril Sydney Herbert Hill (1319144) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Gard Pearce (416228) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Claude Besnard Sautelle (411390) (Wireless Operator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/160/313
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line