LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant John Verdun NEWTON
Service No: 415270
Born: Dongara WA, 12 April 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JA905), Germany, 14 January 1944, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Hanover War Cemetery, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Henry and Mary Elizabeth Newton, of Mingenew, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster JA905 took off from RAF Oakington at 1653 hours on the night of 14th January 1944, detailed to bomb Brunswick, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. A post war report by a Missing Research & Enquiry team stated “The team had accounted for 36 of the 38 aircraft lost on the mission, but of the two aircraft not accounted for (including JA 905), one had crashed at Halchter approximately 10 miles south of Brunswick and the other at Hope which is 45 miles north west of Brunswick and on the direct route taken by the aircraft in an attack on Brunswick from England. It had been determined that these two aircraft were the two unaccounted for. At Halchter the aircraft exploded in the air and crashed at 1900 hours on 14th January with all the crew killed. At Hope the aircraft crashed and exploded on impact. The remains recovered from the two aircraft could not be individually identified but there was no reasonable doubt that the remains were members of the two aircraft in question and they were buried in a collective grave at Hanover War Cemetery, Germany.”
The crew members of JA905 were:
Flying Officer Allan Robinson Broadbent (130884) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Dennis Ernest Victor Bunting (1320651) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Stanley William Bury (1382569) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Frank William Harding (89991) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William Henry Holmes (1629647) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Lieutenant John Verdun Newton (415270) (Pilot)
Flying Officer John Nigel Richards (157505) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Lieutenant Roy Bernard Wharmby (104524) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
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, 166/29/85