LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant John Gregory O’SULLIVAN
Service No: 403432
Born: Waverley NSW, 7 June 1942
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 1481 (Bombing) Gunnery Flight (RAF), RAF Station Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 103 Squadron Wellington aircraft X9812), North Sea, 26 June 1942, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Vlieland General Cemetery, Friesland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Thomas O’Sullivan and Mary Bridget O’Sullivan; husband of Esma Constance May O’Sullivan, of Singleton, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Quirindi NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington X9812 took off from Binbrook at 2310 hours on the night of 25 June 1942 to attack Bremen, Germany. The aircraft participated in the Third “Thousand Plan” attack of 1942. 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 North Sea. The bodies of two crew members were washed ashore and three remain missing.
The crew members of X9812 were:
Squadron Leader Matthew Richard Atkinson (39364) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Allan Neil Blackley (403495) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Douglas Howie McIntosh (407603) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant John Gregory O’Sullivan (403432) (Observer)
Sergeant William Waller (1313097) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
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, 163/148/239