LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Charles Herbert EDWARDS
Service No: 425626
Born: Gympie QLD, 22 June 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 April 1942
Unit: No. 9 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Bardney
Died: Air Operations: (No. 9 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME757), France, 13 August 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Plougastel-Daoulas Communal Cemetery, Finistere, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James Thomas Edwards and Edith Mary Edwards, of Gympie, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gympie QLD
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0832 hours on 13 August 1944 Lancaster ME757 took off from Bardney on a daylight mission to bomb shipping at Brest, France. ME757 was seen by other No. 9 Squadron crews on the same mission to be hit by anti-aircraft fire over the target, the port wing tip being shot off. The aircraft turned to port and then dived straight to the ground. No crew members were seen to leave the aircraft. Post war it was established that the aircraft crashed at Plougastel-Daoulas (Finistere), 8 kms east south east of Brest. All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ME757 were:
Flight Sergeant William Ronald Andrew (24647) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Charles Herbert Edwards (425626) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frederick Walter Johnson (1390712) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Douglas William McConville (424110) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Edward Harry Maxwell Relton (138457) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Cyril Thomas Scott (428799) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Keith Scott (426166) (Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/11/168