LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Robert Charles Addison ASH
Service No: 407197
Born: Adelaide SA, 26 December 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1940
Unit: No. 223 Squadron (RAF), Maaten Bagush, Egypt
Died: Air Operations (No. 223 Squadron Baltimore aircraft AG777), Libya, 8 June 1942, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leslie Emerson Ash and Dorothy Kathleen Ash, of Brighton, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Glenelg SA
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On the 8th June 1942, while on operations a bomb on Baltimore aircraft AG777 prematurely detonated. AG777 disintegrated in the air and all the crew on board were killed. The burst bomb damaged Baltimores AG 825 and DG 742 but the with the exception of one member who was injured, the crews of those aircraft were not harmed.
The crew members of AG777 were:
Flight Sergeant Robert Charles Addison Ash (407197) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Tom Allan Auld (406329) (Observer)
Sergeant Sidney Montague Moore (778878) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick John Alfred Saunders (406492) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/88/117