LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Thomas Kevin FORSYTH
Service No: 409587
Born: Omeo VIC, 17 December 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 September 1941
Unit: No. 139 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Marham
Died: Air Operations: (No. 139 Squadron Mosquito aircraft DZ597), Germany, 20 October 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of David Craig Forsyth and Margaret Anne Forsyth, of East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 192, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1839 hours on 20 October 1943 Mosquito DZ 597 took off from Marham along with 8 other squadron aircraft, to attack Berlin. Nothing was heard from DZ 597 after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, German documents revealed that the aircraft crashed at Zaatzke, 4 miles north west of Wettstock, and the crew were buried in the Wettstock (Doose) Cemetery, 55 miles north west of Berlin in the by then Russian zone of occupied Germany. As it was not possible to visit the grave and identify the remains, the crew members’ names are recorded on the Runnymede Memorial.
The crew members of DZ597 were:
Sergeant Leonard Charles James (1268838) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Kevin Forsyth (409587) (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, 166/14/109