LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Michael O’Meara SHANAHAN
Service No: 412714
Born: Melbourne VIC, 23 July 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Warboys, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JA 681), North West Europe, 3 September 1943, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Michael Joseph and Rose Shanahan; husband of Patricia Ellen Shanahan, of Sefton, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 189, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster JA 681 of 156 Squadron took off from RAF Station Warboys at 1948 hours on 3 September 1943, to carry out a bombing attack on Berlin. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. All the crew are missing and have no known graves.
The crew members of JA 681 were:
Pilot Officer John Cyril Collins (406772) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Neil Howard Denyer (413552) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer David Laing Dodds (411243) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Tom Hoyle (47729) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Michael O’Meara Shanahan (412714) (Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant Hume Melville Stafford (409485) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant George Wilson (522964) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 166/38/271