LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Donald Tofft NICOLSON
Service No: 428122
Born: Campbelltown TAS, 4 January 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 December 1942
Unit: No. 355 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations(No. 355 Squadron Liberator aircraft KH210), Bay of Bengal, 2 May 1945, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Robert and Florence Margaret Nicolson, of Campbelltown, Tasmania
Roll of Honour: Campbelltown TAS
Remembered: Column 458, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 2 May 1945 Liberator KH210 was detailed to bomb gun emplacements at Rangoon, Burma. The aircraft took off at 0051 hours Salbani, and at 0330 hours a message was received “position 20.52N 089.33E, height 3000 feet, air speed 135mph”. From this it was assumed that the aircraft was returning with engine trouble and would have arrived at Salbani at 0630 hours, but the aircraft failed to arrive. A search Catalina sighted wreckage and observed two crew members clinging to the wreck and badly injured. The two crew members were rescued and the body of another recovered. It was recorded that the remaining nine crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of KH210 were:
Sergeant Robert Taylor Bell (1826150) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Donald Urquhart Cameron (1823810) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Squadron Leader Gerald Anthony De Souza (118069) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Flying Officer John Calland (101427) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Samuel Arthur Doherty (R/251292) (RCAF) (Wireless Operator Air) Remains recovered
Sergeant Laurence Helsby (175315) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Brian Hill (163701) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant E L Kightly (1480397) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner) Rescued
Wing Commander James Brindley Nicholson VC DFC (39329) (RAF) (Observer on sortie)
Flight Sergeant Donald Tofft Nicolson (428122) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Michael Henry Pullen (434840) (Second Pilot) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 10 January 1946
Pilot Officer Jack Spillard (195438) (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, 166/29/251