LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Keith FINCH
Service No: 429079
Born: Auburn NSW, 29 May 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 October 1942
Unit: No. 61 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Coningsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 61 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JB129), Germany, 25 March 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Hamburg War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James and Edna Dora Finch, of Mullumbimby, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Mullumbimby NSW
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1849 hours on the night of 24 March 1944 Lancaster JB129 took off from Coningsby detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A later report by a Missing Research and Enquiry team stated “when homebound the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter from below, exploded in the air and crashed near Rimbeck, a town on the north bank of the Diemel, and 24 miles north west of Kassel, Germany.” All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of JB129 were:
Sergeant William Broderick (2208864) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer John Grant Cox (412658) (RNZAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Keith Finch (429079) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ernest George Grundy (1393695) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant George Frederick Lowe (1646186) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flying Officer Ernest William Terence Mellander (J/25768) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Edward Peacock (1484053) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/13/206