LEST WE FORGET

Sergeant Harold Theodore WADDELL

Service No: 412217
Born: Waverley NSW, 4 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 June 1941
Unit: No. 44 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waddington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 44 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4832), off the French Coast, 7 February 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Theodore Fletcher Waddell and Elsie Manning Waddell, of Ashbury, New South Wales, Australia. Accountant, Public Trust Office, Probate Branch.
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 197, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 131, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 1802 hours on 7 February 1943 Lancaster W4832 took off from Waddington to attack Lorient, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. The aircraft was shot down off the coast at 2030 hours. The body of Flight Sergeant Skinner was washed ashore on the French coast, 7 miles north west of Lorient on the south coast of Brittany Peninsula. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the remaining missing crew member had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of W4832 were:

Sergeant Arthur Howells (1419577) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant John Hunter (617249) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Alan Knight (403519) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Desmond Skinner (1269101) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Taylor Vincent (1180892) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Harold Theodore Waddell (412217) (Navigator)
Sergeant Raymond Walton (952997) (RAFVR) (Rear 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, 166/43/57

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