LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Edward Oliver DEVESON
Service No: 415625
Born: Buckingham Mill WA, 16 October 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1941
Unit: No. 635 Squadron (RAF), RAF Downham Market, Norfolk
Died: Air Operations: (No. 635 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND704), Netherlands, 25 March 1944, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Hoogeeven (Hollandscheveld) General Cemetery, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred James Deveson and Emily Gertrude Victoria Deveson; husband of Eileen Jean Deveson, of East Fremantle, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: East Fremantle WA
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On the night of 24 March 1944, Lancaster ND704 took off from RAF Downham Market at 1847 hours, detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed near Hollandscheveld,
(Drenthe), 4 kms south east of Hoogeveen, Holland. All the crew were killed and they are
buried in the Hoogeveen General Cemetery.
The crew members of ND704 were:
Pilot Officer Edward Oliver Deveson (415625) (Rear Gunner)
Warrant Officer Jack Norman Holmwood (656947) (RAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William James Sander (1382666) (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Alec Arthur Stanbridge (1386182) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Wilfred Still (161406) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Cyril Talby (1388587) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant John Lane Tillam (1578559) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/9/280