LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant James HAY
Service No: 426589
Born: Powlathanga QLD, 22 April 1911
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1942
Unit: No. 619 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Coningsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 619 Squadron Lancaster aircraft DV328), Germany, 24 March 1944, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Berlin1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Holt Hay and Mabel Gertrude Hay; husband of Elizabeth Ellinor Hay, of Wynnum, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Charters Towers QLD
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1853 hours on the night of 24 March 1944, Lancaster DV328 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 Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported: “the aircraft was attacked by a night fighter and it exploded in the air and crashed at Gueterfelde on the southern outskirts of Berlin.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of DV328 were:
Flight Sergeant John Gordon Campbell (1489683) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Bernard Francis Gratwicke (1288313) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant James Hay (426589) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Joseph Vincent Leyland (151896) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Leonard Minshull (2205779) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant John Desmond Pedley (1520817) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Paul Thompson (422333) (RNZAF) (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, 166/17/516