LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Thomas Edward PARSONS
Service No: 403117
Born: Birmingham, England, 3 August 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 December 1940 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Wellington aircraft W5371), Netherlands, 26 March 1942, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Bergen General Cemetery, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur John and Ada Mary Parsons; husband of Joan Beverley Parsons, of Edgecliffe, New South Wales, Australia. A.C.1.A., A.F.I.A.
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington W5371 took off from Binbrook at 2026 hours on the night of 26/27 March 1942 to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was later established that the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at 2315 hours at Monnickendam (Noord-Holland) on the west coast of the Zuider Zee, Holland. All the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W5371 were:
Sergeant Benjamin James Dove (960650) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Walter Robinson Lea (916490) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Francis John Lowe (R/50712) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Edward Parsons (403117) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Charles William Lawrence Pooley (400420) (Observer)
Sergeant Leonard Charles Stanley (966184) (RAFVR) (Rear 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/149/167