LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Lorin James SHEEAN
Service No: 410014
Born: Ararat VIC, 16 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941
Unit: No. 76 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Holme-on-Spalding Moor
Died: Air Operations: (No. 76 Squadron Halifax aircraft LK926), North Sea, 21 December 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward John and Eileen Mary Sheean, of Bullaharre, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cobden VIC
Remembered: Panel 193, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Flight Sergeant Brian Leo Sheean (409855)
At 1639 hours on 21 December 1943 Halifax LK926 took off from Holme-on-Spalding Moor being one of a number of aircraft detailed to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. The last message received from LK 926 was at 2153 hours when in position 51.48N 003.44E. Nothing further was heard and it did not return to base. The remains of two crew members were washed ashore and it was later recorded that the remaining missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of LK926 were:
Sergeant Herbert Cyril Cohen (1321547) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Frederick Gillingham (1336396) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Lamb (422662) (RNZAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Charles William Matthews (1320673) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant David Stuart McClelland (R/166291) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Frederick Taylor (914436) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Lorin James Sheean (410014) (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, 166/37/279
Bibliography:
Chorley W R, To See the Dawn Breaking: 76 Squadron Operations, W R Chorley Devon UK, 1981