LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Rex Valentine DONOWA
Service No: 424827
Born: Bankstown NSW, 18 April 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 October 1942
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wickenby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND715), Belgium, 23 April 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Schoonselhof Cemetery, Antwerpen, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Valentine Crawford Donowa and Maisie Donowa, of Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Bankstown NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Honour Roll of Old Newingtonians, Stanmore NSW
Lancaster ND715 took off from RAF Wickenby at 2256 hours on the night of 22 April 1944 to bomb Dusseldorf, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was established post war that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter in open
country some 4 kms south of the hamlet of Postel (Antwerpen), 17kms east south east of Turnhout.
Wreckage was spread over a wide area indicating the aircraft had exploded in the air and all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ND715 were:
Flight Sergeant Frederick William Barnett (1431543) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Rex Valentine Donowa (424827) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Harbour (1607419) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Harvey (1431604) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Douglas Francis Malyon (J/89865) (RCAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Robert Speedie Smith (1569867) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Clifford Henry Thompson (1319740) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
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, 166/10/221
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line