LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant George Charles BRASINGTON
Service No: 423217
Born: Auburn NSW, 23 August 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Downham Market
Died: Air Operations (No. 218 Squadron Stirling aircraft EJ125), off the German Coast, 22 February 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Sage War Cemetery, Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Oswald and Bessie Pretoria Brasington, of Concord, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Concord NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Concord War Memorial, Concord NSW
At 1810 hours on the night of 21 February 1944 Stirling EJ125 took off from Downham Market detailed to carry out a gardening mission and lay mines off Borkum, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was believed that on 22 February 1944, the aircraft crashed in the sea off the uninhabited island of Rottumeroog, and all the crew members lost their lives. Two bodies were washed ashore and the other five crew members are unrecovered.
The crew members of EJ125 were:
Flight Sergeant George Charles Brasington (423217) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Dennis Copley (1215324) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer William Philip Cragg (142375) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant George Henry Foreman (1873791) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Henri Paul Theriault (J/21300) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Victor Leonard Twydell (1804729) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant James Ian Wiseman (120629) (RAFVR) (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 A705, 166/6/432
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line