LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Miguel Louis PEREZ
Service No: 432010
Born: Darwin NT, 19 August 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 November 1942 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 207 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Spilsby
Died: Air Operations: (No. 207 Squadron Lancaster aircraft NE168), Belgium, 6 January 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Houffalize Communal Cemetery, Luxembourg, Belgium
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Rafael and Pantaleona Mary Perez, of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 26 July 1943, Flying Officer Perez was involved in an aircraft accident in which Leading Aircraftman Cedric Neville Jones (425858) and Leading Aircraftman Kenneth Hall Smith (434033) were killed.
At 0052 hours on the morning of 6 January 1945 Lancaster NE168 took off from Spilsby detailed to attack supply channels in the Belgian Ardennes at Houffalize. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. It was believed that the aircraft crashed in the target area. Six of the crew members were killed and one was taken prisoner.
The crew members of NE168 were:
Flight Sergeant William Laurence Cleary (1398534) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner acting as Air Bomber)
Sergeant Edwin Deller (1699824) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant John Kennedy (1817877) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant K A W Ottewell (2220388) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Sergeant George Eric Patterson (1673073) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Miguel Louis Perez (432010) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Graham Shepherd (2221357) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper 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, 166/32/604