LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Kevin Hewer SHOESMITH
Service No: 403655
Born: Wingham NSW, 29 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 Februray 1941
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Marham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Wellington aircraft BJ670), North Sea, 27 July 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Esbjerg (Fourfelt) Cemetery, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Stanley Boyde Shoesmith and Ella Maude Shoesmith
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Wingham Memorial Town Hall, Wingham NSW
At 2253 hours on the night of 26 July 1942 Wellington BJ670 took off from Marham detailed to bomb Hamburg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and was ditched in the North Sea. Two of the crew lost their lives and the other three were taken prisoner.
The crew members of BJ670 were:
Sergeant G Clerides (924202) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant B B Feraday (1312583) (RAFVR) (Pilot) PoW
Sergeant G H Lindley (1381240) (RAFVR) (Observer) PoW
Sergeant Kevin Hewer Shoesmith (403655) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frank Skelley (1071281) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Lindley later reported “On returning from Hamburg we had to land in the sea and owing to the failure of the dinghy to operate, were floating in the sea on Mae Wests. Sergeant Shoesmith had been hit by flak and died through exposure and drowning.”
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, 163/161/241
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line