LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Fred Edmond JAMES
Service No: 406870
Born: Perth WA, 7 March 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 April 1941
Unit: No. 142 Squadron (RAF), Regina, Italy
Died: Air Operations: (No. 142 Squadron Wellington aircraft JA127), Hungary, 16 April 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Budapest War Cemetery, Hungary
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry Edmond Ogden and Ruby James; husband of Betty James, of Maddington, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Maddington WA
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Wellington JA127 took off at 2017 hours on the night of 16 April 1944, detailed to bomb the marshalling yards at Budapest, Hungary. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research & Enquiry team, Central Mediterranean Forces, reported that “the aircraft crashed at Gyal (Alsonemedi), presumably the result of enemy action and all the crew were killed.”
The crew members of JA127 were:
Flight Sergeant John Stuart Boden (426013) (Navigator)
Sergeant Clifford Royston Hitchcock (975717) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Warrant Officer Fred Edmond James (406870) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Douglas Francis Stunt (1293721) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth John Turley (1426971) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant James Edward Wood (1126599) (RAFVR) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/20/117