LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Louis Ward BETSON
Service No: 409887
Born: Northampton, England, 11 March 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 100 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 100 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED883), Germany, 23 September 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp-Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Ida Betson; husband of Olive Maud Betson, of Harrow, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ED883 took off from Grimsby at 1838 hours on the night of 23/24 September 1943, detailed to bomb Mannheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was learned that the aircraft had crashed at Landau-Nussdorf, situated some 25 miles south of Mannheim and all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ED883 were:
Flight Sergeant John Louis Ward Betson (409887) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Phillip McLaughlin Birt (1567298) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Kenneth Rees Burbeck (51326) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Edmund James Deaves (1434590) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant William Bunney Marchant (655660) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Harvey George Prins (415782) (RNZAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Harris Rodgers (960866) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A 705, 166/5/299