LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Harold James BOAL
Service No: 409497
Born: Echuca VIC, 13 April 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941
Unit: No. 97 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bourn
Died: Air Operations: (No. 97 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB659), Netherlands, 31 January 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Harlemmereer (Zwanenburg) General Cemetery, Noord Holland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Ernest and Lily Boal, of Barmah East, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Nathalia VIC
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the night of 30 January 1944 Lancaster JB659 took off from Bourn to attack Berlin. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was established that the aircraft crashed 4 kms north of Halfweg, 11 kms west of Amsterdam, on 31 January 1944. The nature of the crash was such that all the crew members were killed, as well as seven civilians in a farmhouse.
The crew members of JB659 were:
Flight Sergeant Harold James Boal (409497) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Leslie Clifton (1146496) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Douglas Frederick Hicks (1397995) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Allan Robert Hart (412434) (Pilot)
Sergeant William Joseph Jones (1131932) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant Charles Melville Price (R/182206) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner)
Warrant Officer Gordon Ivan Williams (R/119950) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
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, 166/6/405