LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Harry GRAY
Service No: 420662
Born: Yorkshire, England, 4 September 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 35 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Graveley
Died: Air Operations: (No. 35 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ND645), Germany, 22 March 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Claude Harry and Gladys Mary Gray, of Hunters Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Hunters Hill NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Municipality of Hunters Hill War Memorial Honour Rolls, Hunters Hill NSW
Remembered: World War II Memorial, Department of Main Roads Employees, North Sydney NSW
At 1846 hours on the night of 22 March 1944 Lancaster ND645 took off from Graveley to bomb Frankfurt, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed at Schiffenburg in the Giessen area approximately 35 miles north of Frankfurt. It was later established that the aircraft exploded in the air throwing clear the two survivors who became prisoners. The other five crew members were killed.
The crew members of ND645 were:
Flight Lieutenant A Grant (129612) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer) PoW
Pilot Officer Harry Gray (402662) (Air Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Fred Haigh DFM (101522) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Malcolm Ross Hunter (421982) (Air Gunner)
Squadron Leader T Rowe (124836) (RAFVR) (Pilot) PoW
Sergeant Abel Simpson (1031549) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Edmund Howard Williams (171772) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/16/304
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line