LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant John Rogers BECKETT
Service No: 403642
Born: Penrith NSW, 17 August 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 February 1941
Unit: No. 605 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bradwell Bay
Died: Air Operations (No. 605 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HX823), Netherlands, 23 March 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Amersfoort (Oud Leusden) General Cemetery, Utrecht, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Montague Walter and Vera Irene Gladys Beckett, of Berrima, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Berrima NSW
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2000 hours on the 23 March 1944, Mosquito HX823 took off Bradwell Bay detailed to carry out an intruder operation Ranger patrol on Gardelegen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base and it was later learned that the crew members had lost their lives.
The crew members of HX824 were:
Flight Lieutenant John Rogers Beckett (403642) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Frederick Dutton Topping (124225) (RAFVR) (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, 166/5/476