LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Patrick Joseph AMBROSE
Service No: 424350
Born: Surry Hills NSW, 27 January 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1942
Unit: No. 51 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Snaith
Died: Air Operations (No. 51 Squadron Halifax aircraft LM177), Germany, 4 November 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of David and Florence Amy Ambrose, of Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1742 hours on the night of 4 November 1944 Halifax LM177 took off from Snaith detailed to bomb Bochum, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A later report by a Missing Research and Enquiry team stated “the aircraft crashed at
Kelz approximately 8 miles south west of Cologne and all the crew members were killed.”
The crew members of LM177 were:
Flight Sergeant Patrick Joseph Ambrose (424350) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer Henry George Arbon (153879) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Hutchinson (1594050) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant James Frederick Maxwell (1593960) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Geoffrey Norman Reay (150490) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ian Boyd Runciman (1565343) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Douglas Thomson (543645) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/3/305