LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant James Haswell WOOD
From Australia serving in the Royal New Zealand Air Force
Service No: 425811 (RNZAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RNZAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 75 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Mepal
Died: Air Operations: (No. 75 Squadron Lancaster III aircraft LM733), Germany, 21 March 1945, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mr and Mrs J H Wood, of Cassilis, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
At 1001 hours on 21 March 1945, Lancaster LM733 took off from Mepal to attack Munster, Germany. The aircraft was seen to break into two sections and plummet earthwards over the target area, possibly due to a combination of being struck from above by bombs and by fire from the heavy anti-aircraft barrage. Two crew members were killed and five became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of LM733 were:
Flight Sergeant A D Baker (RNZAF) PoW
Sergeant H Barraclough (RAF) PoW
Flying Officer Alfred Errol Brown (429139) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant J Grieveson (RAF) PoW
Flight Sergeant R H Lawrence (RAF) PoW
Flight Sergeant A E Robson (RNZAF) PoW
Flight Sergeant James Haswell Wood (425811) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber)
References:
Chorley W R, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 6 Aircraft and Aircrew Losses 1945, Midland Counties Publications UK, 1998
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records