LEST WE FORGET

Flight Sergeant Leslie Bennett YORK

Service No: 420098
Born: Yass NSW, 12 October 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Snaith
Died: Air Operations: (No. 51 Squadron Halifax aircraft HR749), North West Europe, 26 July 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie James York and Alice York; husband of Jean York, of Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cootamundra NSW
Remembered: Panel 194, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cootamundra War Memorial, Cootamundra NSW

At 2246 hours on the night of 25 July 1943 Halifax HR749 took off from Snaith to attack Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Following post war searches and enquiries it was recorded in 1950 that the missing crew members had no known graves.

The crew members of HR749 were:

Sergeant Joshua Crowther (1514591) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Walter Agar Leopold Huddy (1319885) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Eric James Jones (1248002) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Reid (1367429) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant John Ritchie (1341377) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William Charles Wallace (657762) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Bennett York (420098) (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, 166/45/21
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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