LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Bertram James STANFORD
Service No: 411543
Born: Sydney NSW, 13 May 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 May 1941
Unit: No. 215 Squadron (RAF), Jessore, Bangladesh
Died: Air Operations: (No. 215 Squadron Wellington aircraft LA908), Burma (Myanmar), 18 May 1943, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George William Crisp Stanford and Irene Mary Stanford; husband of Neina Fanny Stanford, of Coburg, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Katoomba NSW
Remembered: Column 430, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington LA908 of No. 215 Squadron took off at 2004 hours on 18 May 1943 from Jessore, on night operations to bomb military objectives in Burma. Crews of other aircraft on the mission saw flares dropped in the Praee-Baungua road area at 0036 hours on the 19 May, which was assumed to come from LA 908. Nothing was heard from LA 908 after take off and it did not return to base from the mission. A Japanese broadcast claimed to have shot down a Wellington in the area in question on that night but no mention was made of the crew. Following post war investigations and enquiries the search was abandoned for the missing crew in 1946.
The crew members of LA908 were:
Warrant Officer Richard James Clarke (403949) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Geoffrey Ernest Ising (4070760 (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant John Andrew Murray (1306727) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harold Raymond Nice (939368) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Harold Thomas Smithson (1050942) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Bertram James Stanford (411543) (Second Pilot)
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, 166/38/143