LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant David Charles PALMER
Service No: 437202
Born: Glanville SA, 13 August 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 November 1942
Unit: No. 170 Squadron (RAF), RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 170 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME388), Germany, 7 March 1945, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Arthur and Mary Elizabeth Palmer, of New Kingston, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Rosewater SA
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Lancaster ME388 took off from RAF Hemswell at 1704 hours on the night of 7/8th March 1945, detailed to bomb Dessau, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was discovered that all the crew members had lost their lives.
The crew members of ME388 were:
Flight Sergeant William Desmond Callaghan (433892) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Wilfred Henry Charles Fuller (1324463) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Mahoney (1800604) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant David Charles Palmer (437202) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer Kenneth George Powell (176193) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Thomas (1652637) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer John Stennett Walker (430231) (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, 166/32/692