LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant John Leslie WILSON
Service No: 412788
Born: Ganmain NSW, 16 April 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 77 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elvington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 77 Squadron Halifax aircraft JD413), Germany, 1 September 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Locality Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Hugh Charles and Grace Louise Wilson; husband of Mary Wilson, of Hazelbrook, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2016 hours on the night of 31September 1943 Halifax JD413 took off from Elvington detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Five of the crew members were killed when it crashed and three were taken prisoner.
The crew members of JD413 were:
Flight Sergeant Raymond William Barlow (1321808) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Jack Alexander Baxter (1390065) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant J F Hopkins (1212037) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flight Sergeant J J Leicester (1434391) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Pilot Officer Kenneth George Sheward (146274) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Alfred Sims (1316116) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Edward Joseph Wilson (1029925) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW, Fatally injured, Died: 4 September 1943
Flight Lieutenant John Leslie Wilson (412788) (Pilot)
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 A9300, WILSON J L