LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Stewart Leigh DENNIS DFC
Service No: 403914
Born: Sydney NSW, 31 October 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 March 1941
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Upwood, Cambridgeshire
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), 15 September 1944 (Citation Title: No. 156 Squadron RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB209), Germany, 13 August 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfal, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Spenser and Florence Dennis; husband of Muriel Alberta Dennis, of Enfield, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
The Citation for the award of DFC to Flight Lieutenant Dennis was a General Citation promulgated in the London Gazette on 15 September 1944, Page 4272.
Lancaster PB209 took off from RAF Upwood at 2201 hours on the night of 12/13th August 1944, detailed to bomb Russelsheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. It was later determined that all the crew had been killed.
The crew members of PB209 were:
Warrant Officer William Thomas Alsbury (977330) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Leonard Lawrence Deed DFC (403983) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Stewart Leigh Dennis DFC (403914) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Donald William Dunham (406522) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Ernest William Hunter (1825464) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant James Neil McDonald DFM (407529) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Robert Henry Valencia (1814417) (RAFVR) (Rear 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, 166/9/374