LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant William Desmond CALLAGHAN
Service No: 433892
Born: Dulwich Hill NSW, 20 May 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 June 1943
Unit: No. 170 Squadron (RAF), RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 170 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME388), Germany, 7 March 1945, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Ernest and Clarice Evelyn Callaghan, of Fairfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Fairfield NSW
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ME388 took off from RAF Hemswell at 1704 hours on the night of 7/8th March 1945, detailed to bomb Dessau, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was discovered that all the crew members had lost their lives.
The crew members of ME388 were:
Flight Sergeant William Desmond Callaghan (433892) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Wilfred Henry Charles Fuller (1324463) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Mahoney (1800604) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant David Charles Palmer (437202) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Kenneth George Powell (176193) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Thomas (1652637) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer John Stennett Walker (430231) (Pilot)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/7/882