LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Tudor Rodwell LUCAS
Service No: 411503
Born: Nyngan NSW, 1 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 may 1941
Unit: No. 37 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 37 Squadron Wellington aircraft HE756), Central Mediterranean, 10 July 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edgar Arthur and Mary Evelyn Lucas, of West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. Dip. Dairying (Hawkesbury)
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 11, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2325 hours on 9 July 1943 Wellington HE756 took off from Kairouan to illuminate Syracuse between the hours of 0215 and 0245 on the 10 July in order for other Wellington aircraft of the squadron to attack the target. The aircraft carried fifty flares. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Other aircraft reported seeing an aircraft shot down over the target and since no other Wellington was missing on the night it appears possible that HE756 was shot down. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that the missing crew members had no known graves.
The crew members of HE756 were:
Sergeant William Leonard Ball (156301) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Kerr (1068347) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Jack Davey Lammin (1134563) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Tudor Rodwell Lucas (411503) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Charles Milton Tweedle (J/90460) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Jack Williams (1006041) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/25/54