LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Andrew MARTIN
Service No: 430626
Born: Ballarat VIC, 23 February 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 February 1943
Unit: No. 90 Squadron (RAF), RAF Tuddenham, Suffolk
Died: Air Operations: (No. 90 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME838), Sweden, 12 September 1944, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Warren Harold and Daisy Martin, of Korumburra, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Ballarat VIC
Remembered: Panel 261, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Lancaster ME838 took off from RAF Tuddenham on the night of 11 September 1944 detailed to carry out a mining operation in Stettin Bay. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. It was presumed that the aircraft had crashed in the Baltic. The body of Flight Sergeant Barrett-Lennard was recovered from the sea near Kristianstadt, on the south east coast of Sweden. The remaining missing crew members are recorded as having lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of ME838 were:
Flight Sergeant Francis Graham Barrett-Lennard (427405) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Kenneth Andrew Martin (430626) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Frederick John Noyes (1662098) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Pilot Officer Anthony Lambert Perrett (55959) (RAF) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Ralph Clifford George Phillips (932117) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying officer George Frederick Rose (153443) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Patrick John Thompson (1852372) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/27/563