LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Athol Grant WEBBER
Service No: 432605
Born: Kendall NSW, 13 November 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 January 1943
Unit: No. 115 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Witchford
Died: Air Operations: (No. 115 Squadron Lancaster aircraft HK556), North West Europe, 27 August 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Thomas Webber and May Webber, of West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: West Maitland NSW
Remembered: Panel 262, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2019 hours on the night of 26 August 1944 Lancaster HK556 took off from Witchford to attack Kiel, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1949 that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of HK556 were:
Sergeant Douglas Roy Clatworth (1338676) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer Donald Fraser Holder (421053) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Henry Herbert Hartley (1582326) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Allen Stewart Jackson (434791) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Maxwell John Pearson (1836265) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant John William Swannell (1339960) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Athol Grant Webber (432605) (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, 166/43/820