LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Guydon Whitfield WARD
Service No: 406890
Born: York WA, 28 August 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 April 1941
Unit: No. 102 Squadron (RAF), RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 102 Squadron Halifax aircraft JD369), Germany, 11 August 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Harold Whitfield Ward and Helen Yetna Ward, of York, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: York WA
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
Halifax JD369 took off from RAF Pocklington at 2125 hours on the night of 10/11th August 1943, detailed to bomb Nuremberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research & Enquiry Team later reported “The aircraft crashed at Ramsen presumably as a result of enemy action.” Ramsen is 12 miles north east of Kaiserlaughtern, Germany. Six of the crew were killed and Sergeant McLearnon and Sergeant Bostle became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of JD369 were:
Sergeant Patrick Bostle (1331058) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Ronald Ellis Chapman (1238906) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant William Harold Davey (R/129865) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant John Addley Irving (936723) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant John Alexander McLearnon (1138663) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Flight Sergeant Raymond George Shaw (1576981) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Sidney Richard Vivian (139657) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Warrant Officer Guydon Whitfield Ward (406890) (Pilot)
Both Prisoners later reported that “Warrant Officer Ward was still in the aircraft when they baled out, and the Germans told them that he had been killed.” Sergeant Bostle said that he had baled out at 3,000 feet.
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, 166/43/290