LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Walter John WHITE
Service No: 425794
Born: Cloncurry QLD, 11 February 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF:
Unit: No. 9 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bardney
Died: Air Operations: (No. 9 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM520), France, 10 May 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Forest-sur-Marque Communal Cemetery, Nord, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel Hugh and Ivy Norma Douglas White, of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cloncurry QLD
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2213 hours on the night of 10 May 1944 Lancaster LM520 took off from Bardney to bomb railway yards at Lille, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Forest-sur-Marque (Nord), 9 kms east of Lille. All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of LM520 were:
Flight Lieutenant Gilbert Bell DFC (47578) (RAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Donald Antony Cato (2203362) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Henry Charles Dixey (1861605) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Edward Bancroft Hudson (1376055) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harold William Matthews (1322267) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Alan Gregory Stafford (424531) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Walter John White (425794) (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, 166/43/654