LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Marcel Alfred Barnard WATKINS
Service No: 420327
Born: North Sydney NSW, 3 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 100 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 100 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED709), off the Danish Coast, 21 April 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hubert and Yvonne Watkins, of Waverton, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 194, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ED709 took off from Grimsby at 2159 hours on 20 April, 1943 to attack Stettin, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Post war it was established that after the attack on the target, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire fire and crashed in Ringkobing Bay about one mile from Velling, Denmark. All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ED709 were:
Sergeant Thomas Carter (652517) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Bernard Francis Myers (411043) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Wing Commander James George Wilson Swain MID (39136) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Ronald Stanley Sidwell (1197663) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Marcel Alfred Barnard Watkins (420327) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Cyril Ernest Wellard (131125) (RAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Reginald Alfred Whellhams (1333520) (RAF) (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, 166/43/159