LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Joseph Arthur Gordon COOPER
Service No: 26756
Born: Wallaroo SA, 6 July 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 11 June 1940
Unit: No. 57 Squadron (RAF), RAF East Kirby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 57 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LM624), Germany, 6 November 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph Henry and Audrey Gwendoline Cooper; husband of Dorothy Cooper, of Springwood, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Brighton SA
Remembered: Panel 257, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster LM624 of 57 Squadron took off from RAF Station East Kirkby, at 1631 hours on the night of 6/7th November 1944 to cut the junction of the Dortmund-Ems and Mitterland Kanal systems near Gravenhorst, Germany. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take off and the aircraft did not return to base. All the crew have no known grave and their names are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing, Runnymede.
The seven crew members of LM624 were:
Sergeant Alfred Kenneth Beach (907053) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Bruce Harold Brown (429645) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Joseph Arthur Gordon Cooper (26756) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Lloyd Draysey (417817) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Brian Hesford (Air Bomber) (427118)
Sergeant Gerald Saville (1593727) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick John Sloane (3005474) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/8/710