LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Stanley Charles BOWKER
Service No: 420435
Born: Kerang VIC, 16 July 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 424 Squadron (RCAF)
Died: Air Operations (No. 424 Squadron Wellington aircraft HE967), Sicily, 2 August 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles and Florence Ellen Bowker, of Lindfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Ku-ring-gai World War II Book of Remembrance, Gordon NSW
On the morning of 2 August 1943, Wellington HE967 took off at 0035 hours to carry out a bombing operation over Randazzo, Italy. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off, and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed and exploded on impact in the vicinity of Mt Etna, Sicily, presumably as a result of enemy aircraft. All the crew members were killed
The crew members of HE967 were:
Flight Sergeant Stanley Charles Bowker (420435) (Pilot)
Sergeant F C Daniels (973006) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Ronald Coverdale Dixon (1452182) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Thomas Alfred Hallam (1234790) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Harold George Shoobert (1160412) (RAFVR) (Air 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 A705, 166/6/225
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line