LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Barrymore MARDEN
Service No: 424775
Born: Wahroonga NSW, 13 September 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 October 1942
Unit: No. 11 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Westcott, Buckinghamshire
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 11 Operational Training Unit Wellington aircraft LM172), Irish Sea, 14 June 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Chester (Bacon) Cemetery, Cheshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley Armstrong Marden and Florence Victoria Marden, of Bollon, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wahroonga NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gordon Public School Rolls of Honor, Gordon NSW
At 2325 hours on the night of 13 June 1944 Wellington LM172 took off from RAF Westcott detailed to carry out a night cross country training exercise. Just after an hour into the flight, and possibly while over the Irish Sea, a wireless message was received advising an engine had failed and the aircraft was returning to base. At about 0140 hours on 14 June a distress signal was sent and it was believed that soon after the aircraft came down in Cardigan Bay. All the crew members lost their lives but subsequently all their bodies were recovered.
The crew members of LM172 were:
Sergeant Edward Ankers (1507990) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Leslie Backhouse (2210786) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Robert Frank Gray (1586855) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant John Key (3010600) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant John Barrymore Marden (424775) (Pilot)
Sergeant Norman George Wakefield (1582235) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Roy Stanley Waring (422004) (RNZAF) (Wireless 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, 1166/27/470
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line