LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Edward David ALEXANDER
Service No: 37691
Born: Marrickville NSW, 3 June 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 July 1941
Unit: No. 622 Squadron (RAF), RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk
Died: Air Operations (No. 622 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM291), Germany, 12 September 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mitchell Pattison Alexander and Edith Isobelle Alexander, of Davistown, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Gosford NSW
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gosford Cenotaph, Gosford NSW
On the night of 12/13th September 1944, Lancaster LM291 took off from RAF Mildenhall at 1820 hours¸ detailed to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported: “the aircraft was shot done by a night fighter and crashed in the Forest of Potaschplatz, six miles north west of Wilgartswiesen, some 15 kms east north east of Pirmasens.” All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of LM291 were:
Flying Officer Edward David Alexander (37691) (Pilot)
Sergeant Harold Grice (2209891) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Warrant Officer Edwin Albert Hogan (415658) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Ian Fairlie MacGugan (434739) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth William Rust (422301) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Walter Cecil Thorogood (1869857) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Edward Alexander Weatherhead (1897870) (RAFVR) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/3/277
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line