LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Raymond Thomas WALKER
Service No: 410762
Born: Sheffield, England, 6 December 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 149 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Lakenheath
Died: Air Operations: (No. 149 Squadron Stirling aircraft LJ526), Denmark, 23 April 1944, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Svenborg General Cemetery, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas and Gladys Fanny Walker; husband of Lilian Thelma Walker, of Essendon, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Essendon VIC
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2042 hours on the night of 23April 1944 Stirling LJ526 took off from Lakenheath detailed to carry out gardening (mine-laying) duties in the Baltic. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 0040 hours at Oster Skerninge, a small community just to the west of Ollerup, Denmark and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LJ526 were:
Pilot Officer Roderick Hugh Cameron (J/89959) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Reginald John Freeman (150240) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer David Hughes (175342) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Alan Richardson Redfearn (1696297) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer John Menzies Ronahan (J/95100) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Jack Leslie Stean (1468683) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Raymond Thomas Walker (410762) (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, 166/43/627