LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Osmond John GODDARD
Service No: 421267
Born: Lidcombe NSW, 9 April 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 514 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Waterbeach
Died: Air Operations: (No. 514 Squadron Lancaster aircraft LL738), Germany, 31 March 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Osmond Cyril Kerslake Goddard and Irene Alma Goddard, of Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Lidcombe NSW
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2225 hours on the night of 30 March 1944 Lancaster LL738 took off from Waterbeach detailed to bomb Nuremberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. When outbound to the target, the aircraft was shot down by a JU88, which came upon LL738 as it held course at 21,000 feet. Out of control, the aircraft exploded in the air, and crashed into the southern outskirts of Sinzig at Westun. Sinzig is situated on the Rhine, 31 miles south east of Cologne, Germany. Six of the crew members lost their lives and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of LL738 were:
Warrant Officer Osmond John Goddard (421267) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant A D Hall (427199) (RNZAF) (Air Bomber) PoW
Pilot Officer Garth Stewart Hughes DFC (413614) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Llewellyn Selwyn Smith (416587) (RNZAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant George Henry Thornton (1618730) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Harry West (1523926) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Leslie James Henry Whitbread (1437285) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
In a PoW report Flight Sergeant Hall stated: “Our aircraft was attacked and set on fire. I was the first to leave the aircraft. I regret being unable to give any information on the fate of the other six crew members.”
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, 166/16/307