LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Leonard William STEPHENSON
Service No: 401680
Born: Mildura VIC, 22 April 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1941
Unit: No. 101 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Stradishall
Died: Air Operations: (No. 101 Squadron Wellington aircraft BJ897), Germany, 16 September 1942, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas Armstrong Stephenson and Eva Muriel Stephenson; husband of Alice Jean Stephenson, of Mildura, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mildura VIC
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington BJ897 took off from RAF Stradishall at 2038 hours on the night of 16 September 1942 detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Essen-Mulhein, and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of BJ897 were:
Sergeant Alan Watson Firth (1215307) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Pilot Officer Clifford Harry Grant (116903) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Robert Kitchen Griffith (R/84183) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Ronald Horace Hill (121728) (RAFVR) (Observer)
Sergeant Leonard William Stephenson (401680) (Wireless 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/163/509