LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alfred Kenneth TREVENA
Service No: 410182
Born: Elsternwick VIC, 3 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 December 1941
Unit: No. 9 Squadron (RAF), RADF Station Bardney
Died: Air Operations: (No. 9 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED721), Germany, 14 January 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest Henry and Stephanie Hope Trevena, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hawthorn VIC
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 14/ January 1944 Lancaster ED721 took off from Bardney to bomb Brunswick, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries by a Missing Research and Enquiry Unit it reported “The Burgomeister at Bartol stated that an aircraft approached the village from the north or north east when firing was heard. It was assumed that the aircraft was being attacked by a night fighter. By the time the aircraft reached the village it had burst into flames and was in a steep dive and no attempt was made to flatten out before it crashed just outside the village.” Five of the crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of ED721 were:
Flying Officer Edward James Argent (156647) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Frederick Edward Forshew (134683) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant George Fradley (1457002) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer H T Jolliffe (171071) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
Sergeant W Lyons (1049080) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Warrant Officer II David Alexander Powley (R/133214) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Alfred Kenneth Trevena (410182) (Mid Upper Gunner)
In a later PoW report Sergeant Joliffe stated “Flight Sergeant Trevena was still in the aircraft after I left The Germans told me that all the others were killed except Lyons.” Sergeant Lyons stated: “Flight Sergeant Trevena was still in the aircraft when I jumped. I heard his voice on the intercom just before jumping. The Germans said one of the bodies recovered was wearing a navy blue jumper which I presume was Trevena as the only Australian in the crew. Also the Germans said they had his burnt identity disc with part of his name legible on it. I was also shown 5 parachutes salvaged from the aircraft.”
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, 166/40/128