LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Roland Gilbert WARD
Service No: 422326
Born: Maryborough QLD, 16 November 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 50 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Skellingthorpe
Died: Air Operations: (No. 50 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND874), France, 6 June 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Bayeux War Cemetery, Calvados, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Gilbert and Nellie May Ward, of Coogee, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0251 hours on the morning of 6 June 1944 Lancaster ND874 took off from Skellingthorpe detailed to bomb coastal battery defences at St Pierre Du Mont, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down over the target area and six of the crew members were killed and one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of ND874 were:
Flight Sergeant Malcolm Robert Burgess (423076) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Richard Haine (925316) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant George Frederick Livingstone (1349096) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Denis Patrick Mangan (1814477) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant S K Reading (1382453) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner) PoW, Escaped
Sergeant Kenneth Oliver Smith (1802485) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer Roland Gilbert Ward (422326) (Pilot)
In a later report Sergeant Reading stated “the aircraft was shot down over the target by light flak. The abandon order was given. I landed south of the target. I have no information re the others. I was injured and taken prisoner by the Germans, and sent to hospital for treatment. The hospital was evacuated and we were taken to Gaumont to find that the Germans had also evacuated the town. After an argument with the guards, the British and American prisoners went their own way. The French hid us in the town until it was captured by the Americans.”
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, 166/43/466