LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Graham Henry David HIGGINS
Service No: 404484
Born: Clermont QLD, 9 March 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 September 1940
Unit: No. 78 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Middleton St George
Died: Air Operations: (No. 78 Squadron Halifax aircraft W1233), North Sea, 11 August 1942, aged 28 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. John Higgins and Margaret Elizabeth Higgins, of Miles, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 111, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2139 hours on 11 August 1942 Halifax W1233 took off from Middleton St George to attack Mainz, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. The body of Pilot Officer Myrick (RCAF) was washed ashore at Vjersstrand, Oksdol, on the west coast of Denmark. It was later recorded that remaining missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of W1233 were:
Flight Sergeant John Fleetwood-May (1254797) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jackson Osbourne Harrison (133960) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Graham Henry David Higgins (404484) (Observer)
Sergeant Maurice James Hisley (548910) (RAF) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Leonard Kelly (525449) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer John Frederick Myrick (J/9587) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Francis Neville Thomasson (1113658) (RAFVR) (Second 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, 163/122/141