LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Eric Alan BOCK
Service No: 423214
Born: Cooks Hill NSW, 29 October 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 June 1942
Unit: No. 625 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Kelstern
Died: Air Operations (No. 625 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME733), Germany, 13 August 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry Aloysius and Noreen Elizabeth Bock, of Merewether, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Newcastle NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2125 hours on the night of 12/13 August 1944, Lancaster ME733 took off from Kelstern detailed to bomb Braunschweig, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off, and it failed to return to base. Post war it was learned that all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ME733 were:
Flight Sergeant Eric Alan Bock (423214) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Noel Wilkinson Gadsden (430256) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick Howard (1119630) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant William Edward Lynch (1389429) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Sergeant Malcolm Douglas Moffatt (411099) (Rear Gunner)
Warrant Officer Francis McLeod Percy (423313) (Pilot)
Sergeant Samuel John Spooner (1868639) (RAFVR) (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, 166/6/1490