LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Henry Oscar MASON
Service No: 432241
Born: Collingwood VIC, 27 February 1913
Enlisted in the RAAF: 5 December 1942
Unit: No. 148 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 148 Squadron Halifax aircraft JP281), Yugoslavia, 26 January 1945, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Belgrade War Cemetery, Serbia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry and Lilian Mason, of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia; husband of Eileen Mason of Ballarat. Victoria
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 26 January 1945, Halifax JP281 was detailed to carry out a daytime mission on the target Icarus Minimus in Northern Yugoslavia. A successful message was received at 1428 hours but after that there was no further news and the aircraft failed to return to base. It was subsequently learned that the aircraft had been lost and all the crew members had been were killed.
The crew members of JP281 were:
Sergeant Denis Patrick Burns (1595867) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Gordon Diffey (1595347) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Wardman Holmes (2210805) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant Harry Edmund Horsfall (415321) (RNZAF) (Second Pilot)
Flying Officer Raymond Howarth (154540) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Henry Oscar Mason (432241) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Lieutenant George Barrie Strang (114750) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Walter Harold Wilson (162047) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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, 166/27/758