LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Edward Hamilton HENDERSON
Service No: 403406
Born: Melbourne VIC, 29 June 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 106 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Coningsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 106 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5681), Germany, 16 September 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Alexander Henderson and Lily Rentoul Henderson, of Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gunnedah NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Kelvin War Memorials, Kelvin NSW
Remembered: Remembrance Grove, Gunnedah NSW
At 2030 hours on the night of 16 September 1942 Lancaster R5681 took off from Coningsby detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team report stated “the aircraft crashed on 16 September at Lippramsdorf which is 30 miles south west of Munster, Germany.” All the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of R5681 were:
Sergeant Edward Hamilton Henderson (403406) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Francis Terence Pargeter Jones (1053541) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Robert Roberts (811009) (RAF (Auxiliary Air Force)) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Francis Charles Smith (114058) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Bernard Wayne Williams (982312) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Ogwyn Williams (46839) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Philip Witcomb (1117253) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 163/121/230
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line