LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Colin Geoffrey VEAL

Service No: 406335
Born: Leederville WA, 18 February 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 November 1940
Unit: No. 27 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Valley, Anglesey, Wales
Died: Air Operations (No. 27 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft X9862), Irish Sea, 25 February 1942, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Pascoe Hocking Veal and Hermy Inez Veal; husband of Marie Rona Veal, of Northampton, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Northampton WA
Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA

Wellington X9682 of No 27 Operational Training Unit took off from RAF Valley at night on 25 February 1942, on a cross country training flight. The aircraft was last heard from in the vicinity of Squires Gate, Wales, at 2256 hours when an SOS message was received over the Irish Sea between Valley and Liverpool. The aircraft did not return to base, and subsequent air/sea rescue searches found no trace of the missing aircraft or crew. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of X9682 were:

Sergeant Dudley Harnett Dyson (406351) (Pilot)
Sergeant Arthur Peter Roy Hargrave (402302) (Observer)
Sergeant Roy Gordon Hawkins (403788) (RNZAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Raymond Corlett Madge (407946) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Sidney John Rex Parsons (404598) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Colin Geoffrey Veal (406335) (Second Pilot)

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/175/76

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