LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Guy Bamford HERRING
Service No: 411783
Born: Batlow NSW, 27 February 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1941
Unit: No. 100 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 100 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED557), North Sea, 20 April 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edgar Moule Herring and Clara Jane Herring, of Batlow, New South Wales. A Triple Blue, Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Cricket, Football & Rifle Shooting
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 188, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Batlow War Memorial, Batlow NSW
Lancaster ED557 took off from Grimsby at 2157 hours on the night of 20/21 April 1943 for air operations against Stettin, Germany. The route to/from the target was Base – Mablethorpe – 5550N 0810E – 5440N 1377E – to Target – 5315N 1436E – 5428N 1232E – 5535N 1037E – 5550N 0810E to Mablethorpe to Base. The aircraft failed to return. In August 1944 the German official Torenliste number 216 stated that the body of Sergeant B W Cooper (RAF) was recovered from the sea near Korsor, Denmark. In 1949 it was reported that no burial details about Sergeant Cooper were available and he was recorded as having no known grave, with the remainder of the crew registered as lost at sea.
The crew members of ED557 were:
Sergeant Bernard William David Cooper (1377124) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Guy Bamford Herring (411783) (Navigator)
Sergeant Alfred Malcolm Hodges (1339519) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Samuel James Houston (1531156) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant William Arthur Jones (124510) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Donald Robert Ling (1171532) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Clifford Walker (1320280) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
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, 166/17/116
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line