LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Peter STURGES
Service No: 427035
Born: Kojonup WA, 22 April 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1942
Unit: No. 620 Squadron (RAF), RAF Great Dunmow, Essex
Died: Air Operations (No. 620 Squadron Stirling aircraft LJ920), France, 4 August 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Tilly-sur-Seulles War Cemetery, Calvados, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Ivy Rebecca Hetty Sturges, of Muradup, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Kojonup WA
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On the 4th August 1944, Stirling LJ920 took off from RAF Great Dunmow detailed to carry out special operations over enemy occupied territory. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported: “the aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed near Notre Dame de Livaye, Calvados, France, and all the crew members were killed.”
The crew members of LJ920 were:
Sergeant Richard George Glanville (1314985) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Ramsay McKenzie Habkirk (J/25702) (RCAF) (Second Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Jefferies Johnson (1316941) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Frederick Lewis (1576186) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Edward Grigg Robinson (421769) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Corporal J E Smith (T/3972381) (Royal Army Service Corps, British Army) (Dispatcher)
Warrant Officer Peter Sturges (427035) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Ihaia William Trainor (421795) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
Driver Ralph Wright (T/1572252) (Royal Army Service Corps, British Army) (Dispatcher)
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, 166/38/641