LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Bryant Frederick SEDGLEY

Service No: 416618
Born: Adelaide SA, 17 February 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1941
Unit: No. 40 Squadron (RAF), Hani West Airfield, Tunisia
Died: Air Operations (No. 40 Squadron Wellington aircraft HF688), off the Italian Coast, 20 August 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter John Mongan Sedgley and Olive Victoria Sedgley, of Medindie, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 12, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide

On the night of 19/20th August 1943 Wellington HF688 of No. 40 Squadron took off, on an operational flight over Scalea on the south west coast of Italy, about 170 kms south east of Naples. HF 688 did not return to base after the mission. At the time it was presumed that the missing aircraft might have been shot down by enemy action over the target, as two crews of accompanying aircraft reported seeing an aircraft crash in flames on the beach near Scalea at approx 0040 hours on 20 August. No member of the crew was seen to bale out and it was not possible to state if the aircraft was HF 688. Following post war investigations and interrogations of local residents it was established that the above aircraft was not HF688 but another lost on the same raid. Searches could not locate HF 688 or its crew, and it was recorded that the aircraft had crashed into the sea and the crew had no known grave.

The crew members of HF688 were:

Sergeant Bernard Charles Louis Boyd (338360) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Ronald Sidney Facey (1271386) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Charles Stanley Field (1245817) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Bryant Frederick Sedgley (416618) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Clive George Taylor (1579604) (RAFVR) (Air 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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/37/185

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