LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Keith Ronald HEMING
Service No: 400612
Born: Northcote VIC, 8 October 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: No 218 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Downham Market
Died: Air Operations: (No. 218 Squadron Stirling aircraft R9333), Germany, 5 March 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Arthur Heming and Laura Heming; husband of Peggy Calvert Heming, of Ontario, Canada
Roll of Honour: Carnegie VIC
Remembered: Panel 122, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1929 hours on the night of 5 March 1943 Stirling R9333 took off from Downham Market detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed at Essen-Kray and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of R9333 were:
Sergeant John Thomas Charlton (621023) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Keith Ronald Heming (400612) (Navigator)
Sergeant William Thomas Hurl (657140) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant David Henry Melville (1322282) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer George Arthur Ratcliffe (138648) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Turner (614960) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant William Edwin Waddington (1380140) (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, 163/12/147