LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer John Edwin BATEUP
Service No: 424283
Born: Gunning NSW, 16 November 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1922
Unit: No. 153 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations (No. 153 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB636), North West Europe, 23 January 1945, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Edward and Kathleen Ann Bateup; Husband of Anne Bateup, of Sleaford, Lincolnshire
Roll of Honour: Gunning NSW
Remembered: Panel 283, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gunning Anglican World War II Memorial Window, Gunning NSW
Remembered: World War II Memorial, Department of Main Roads Employees, North Sydney NSW
Remembered: Goulburn-Mulwaree Honour Roll 1939-1972, Goulburn NSW
Lancaster PB636 took off from Scampton on 22 January 1945 to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off, and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1950 that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of PB636 were:
Warrant Officer John Edwin Bateup (424283) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Charles Leslie Cullen (1439614) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Sydney Strettle James (1869987) (RAFVR)
Flight Lieutenant Alan Edgar Jones DFC (47423) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John James Lewis McDonell (428340) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Albert Simpson (1238641) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Reuben Victor Trafford (638898) (RAFVR)
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, 166/5/549
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line