LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer William Stuart WILSON
Service No: 420094
Born: Woollahra NSW, 3 December 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 76 Squadron (RAF), RAF station Holme-on-Spalding Moor
Died: Prisoner of War: Injuries from Air Operations: (loss of No. 76 Squadron Halifax aircraft DK247 on 3 October 1943), Germany, 17 November 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Francis and Dahlia Juliaetta Wilson, of Bellevue Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1821 hours on the night of 3 October 1943 Halifax DK247 took off from Holme-on-Spalding Moor detailed to bomb Kassel, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. DK247 was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 2156 hours on Vehne Moor, 18 kms south west of Oldenburg, Germany. Five of the crew members were killed and two taken prisoner. Flying Officer Wilson died of his injuries on 17 November 1943.
The crew members of DK247 were:
Flight Sergeant James Cook Boyd (424966) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber) PoW
Sergeant Kenneth Herring (1575657) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Pilot Officer James Robert Hillhouse (C/8680) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Anthony Jack Murtagh (908204) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant William Edward Price (1314497) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Martin Watson (R/164504) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer William Stuart Wilson (420094) (Pilot) PoW, Died: 17 November 1943
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 W S
Bibliography:
Chorley W R, To See the Dawn Breaking: 76 Squadron Operations, W R Chorley Devon UK, 1981