LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Clarence Bruce JEFFERY
Service No: 412449
Born: Cooma NSW, 15 October 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 July 1941
Unit: No. 166 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Kirmington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 166 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5862), Germany, 20 January 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Nathaniel Bruce and Selina Ellen Jeffery, of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cooma NSW
Remembered: Panel 124, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cooma Cenotaph, Cooma NSW
At 1625 hours on the night of 20 January 1944 Lancaster R5862 took off from Kirmington detailed to bomb Berlin. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. A Missing Research and Enquiry team later reported: “On 20 January the aircraft crashed near Gollin which is approximately 32 miles north east of Berlin.” Five of the crew had been killed and two taken prisoner.
The crew members of R5862 were:
Sergeant M F Early (919416) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant David James Edwards (1586160) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Clarence Bruce Jeffery (412449) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Alexander Andrew Mansfield (1876425) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Walter Mattin (R/160410) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant C H Rusk (R/173729) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Flight Sergeant Ronald Walter Sutton (1450551) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Early in a PoW report stated: “I identified Sergeant Mansfield’s body after being taken prisoner. I have since learned that Sergeant Rusk is a PoW. I presume that the others were killed.”
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, 166/20/100
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line