LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Donald Joseph LESTER
Service No: 425173
Born: Ipswich QLD, 6 January 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 31 January 1942
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft PB140), France, 6 August 1944, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Joseph John and Eva May Lester, of Bororen, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Gladstone QLD
Remembered: Panel 259, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster PB140 of No. 83 Squadron took off from RAF Coningsby at 0908 hours on 6 August 1944 to attack the flying bomb storage area at Bois de Cassan, France. The aircraft reached the target and after bombing was completed it was attacked by three Focke Wolfe aircraft. PB 140 was severely damaged in the attack, and with the aircraft out of control the Captain ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft.
In the attack both the Rear Gunner and the Wireless Operator who had been injured, informed the Captain that they would be unable to obey the order. The Captain cancelled the abandon aircraft order and decided to try and bring the aircraft under control and make a forced landing. Prior to the cancellation of the order however the Mid Upper Gunner, Warrant Officer Lester had abandoned the aircraft, and his parachute was seen to open successfully. The position of the aircraft at that time was about 25 kms north west of Paris. The Captain succeeded in gaining control of the aircraft, feathered the port inner engine, and successfully flew the aircraft back to UK making a crash landing at Ford airfield, Sussex at 1415 hours.
Following post war enquiries and investigations, in the French Departments of the Seine and Oust, and cemeteries in the L’Isle Adam area, it was recorded in 1948 that Warrant Officer Lester had no known grave.
The crew members of PB140 were:
Flight Sergeant S C Burleigh (1711577) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Pilot Officer Gilbert James Duggin DFC (417642) (Rear Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 2 October 1945
Warrant Officer Robert William Francis Gallagher (416947) (Front Gunner) Killed on Air Operations: 13 August 1944
Flying Officer A K Irwin (J/22132) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Lieutenant J A Kelly (150710) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant S R Lambert (1294523) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Warrant Officer Donald Joseph Lester (425173) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer M MacNeil (J/87594) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
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