LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Roger Leigh EATON
Service No: 410471
Born: Camberwell VIC, 21 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1942
Unit: No. 142 Squadron (RAF), Kairouan, Tunisia
Died: Air Operations: (No. 142 Squadron Wellington aircraft HK629), off the Italian Coast, 5 August 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sydney Alexander Eaton and Hilda Minnie Eaton, of Canterbury, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 11, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2005 hours on 5 August 1943 Wellington HK629 took off from Kairouan to attack the Messina beaches. The route was: Base – Ustica – Vulcano Island – Target – and return. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base.
The crew members of HK629 were:
Sergeant Oswald William St Claire Alleyne (1393814) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Roger Leigh Eaton (410471) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Ralph Elsdon- Howard (1578246) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Manuel Treharne Perkins (1418624) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Alfred Charles Wiltshire (412789) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/11/62