LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Walter Vincent WILLIAMS
Service No: 414531
Born: Toowoomba QLD, 21 September 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 October 1941
Unit: No. 40 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 40 Squadron Wellington aircraft HE707), off the Italian Coast, 8 July 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George and Mary Williams, of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 12, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of the 8 July 1943 Wellington HE707 was detailed along with other squadron aircraft to attack Catania aerodrome Sicily. At 2320 hours one aircraft in the Catania area while over the sea was seen to explode. At 2327 hours a second aircraft was seen to explode in mid air and fall in flames following air to air firing. No parachutes were seen to bale out from either aircraft. As both HE707 and HZ144 failed to return from the mission it could not be determined as to which aircraft the above explosions applied. It was recorded in 1947 that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of HE707 were:
Sergeant George Sydney Dryden (1385103) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Stanley Henry Noel Hart (1389102) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Howatson (981103) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Hector Henderson Sharpe (1302148) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Walter Vincent Williams (414531) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/43/255