LEST WE FORGET
Aircraftman Class II Peter Graeme SMITHSON
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 573107 (RAF)
Born: NSW, 4 September 1922
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 33 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Naval Operations: 31 May 1941, Aged 18 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Clarence Hall Smithson and Maude Mary Smithson, of Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Column 246, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Aircraftman Smithson is one of ten No. 33 Squadron members with the date of death recorded as 31 May 1941 and all are commemorated on the Alamein Memorial. A total of 44 RAF members are recorded on the Memorial for this day. It is likely that most, if not all, were lost during the British / Australian / New Zealand evacuation of Crete which was in its third and final day on the night of 31 May – 1 June 1941. Those from No. 33 Squadron are:
Leading Aircraftman John Willian Dixon (553233) (RAF)
Leading Aircraftman Kenneth Austin Eaton (626946) (RAF)
Sergeant Idris Clifford Elson (561114) (RAF)
Leading Aircraftman James Robert Benjamin Green (625833) (RAF)
Aircraftman Class I George Johns (632430) (RAF)
Leading Aircraftman Alexander Mair (618912) (RAF)
Aircraftman Class II Peter Graham Smithson (573107) (RAF)
Leading Aircraftman Walter Henry Trinder (631988) (RAF)
Leading Aircraftman Cyril George White (624237 (RAF)
Corporal Henry George Whitehurst (566615) (RAF)
References:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Records of the Battle of Crete