LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Arthur Hartley SAWTELL
Service No: 417521
Born: Adelaide SA, 14 April 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 May 1942
Unit: No. 75 Squadron (RAF), RAF Mepal, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 75 Squadron Stirling aircraft EH948), off the Danish Coast, 24 February 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Aabenraa Cemetery, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Hartley Sawtell and Ida Marie Sawtell, of Unley, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unley SA
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Stirling EH948 took off from RAF Mepal at 1710 hours on the night of 24 February 1944, detailed to lay mines over Kiel Bay. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of EH948 were:
Flight Sergeant Harold Henry Bruhns (42367) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Laurie Licence Butler (421672) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Robert Ewen Hall (1392121) (RAFVR) (Tail Gunner)
Sergeant James William Harry (1601839) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Hartley Sawtell (417521) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Woolf Jack Summers (1395702) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Sergeant Eric Arthur Wilkes (1575513) (RAF) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/37/330