LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Henry William Joseph SMITH DFM
Service No: 404622
Born: Murwillumbah NSW, 4 March 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1940 (at Brisbane QLD)
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4382), North West Europe, 18 December 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Patrick and Mary Ann Smith, of Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Murwillumbah NSW
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
DFM Citation Sergeant Smith is an air bomber of outstanding personality. With a calculating courage he has always shown a complete disregard of danger in his determination to place his bombs on the target. He has taken part in many successful sorties, at times despite poor visibility and intense enemy opposition. One night in August he took part in a mission calling for high standard of navigation and achieved complete success.
Lancaster W4382 of No. 50 Squadron took off from RAF Station Skellingthorpe at 1705 hours on the night of 17 December 1942 to attack a target at Soltau, Germany. Post war investigations and enquiries failed to reveal any trace of the missing aircraft or crew, and in 1950 it was recorded that the crew had lost their lives with no known grave.
The crew members of W4382 were:
Flight Lieutenant John Charles Atkinson (120725) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Francis Martin (951050) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant James Cornelius O’Neill (402604) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Mason Reilly (702772) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Percy William Rowling (401287) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Henry William Joseph Smith DFM (404622) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Charles William Walker (407956) (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, 163/162/563