LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Maurice Joseph MARTEL
Service No: 400373
Born: Sydney NSW, 17 December 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 August 1940 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 608 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Wick
Died: Air Operations: (No. 608 Squadron Hudson aircraft AM776), North Sea, 17 March 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Louis and Adele Kathleen Martel, of Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Upper Beaconsfield VIC
Remembered: Panel 110, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 1445 hours on 17 March 1942 Hudson AM776 took off from Wick to carry out a Stand-off Radar (Stander) patrol. Nothing was seen or heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. Two hours after the aircraft was due back at base a fighter plot which faded six miles south of Wick, may possibly have referred to AM776. A search of the area where the aircraft might have come down was fully covered but was unsuccessful. In 1949 it was recorded that Flying Officer Martel and crew were lost at sea.
The crew members of AM776 were:
Sergeant Dennis George Albert Evans (917391) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Alexander Jack Marshall (634086) (RAF) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Maurice Joseph Martel (400373) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant James Vincent Routledge (754073) (RAFVR) (Observer)
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, 163/44/132