LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Charles Robert PODMORE
Service No: 402538
Born: Manildra NSW, 9 April 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 16 September 1940
Unit: No. 12 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Binbrook, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 12 Squadron Wellington aircraft X3802), Netherlands, 28 August 1942, Aged 28 Years
Buried: The Hague (Westduin) General Cemetery, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Morley and Alice Podmore, of Manilla, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Manilla NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Manilla and District Soldiers Memorial Hall, Manilla NSW
Wellington X3802 took off from RAF Binbrook at 2016 hours on the night of 27/28 August 1942 to bomb Kassel, 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 at 0205 hours on 28 August 1942 and crashed in the garden of Mr Giezman-Nieuwenweg, 58 of Poeldijk on the south west outskirts of Den Haag, (Zuid-Holland). Four of the crew members were killed one became a Prisoner of War.
The crew members of X3802 were:
Sergeant E Gershater (R/95445) (RCAF) (Rear Gunner) PoW
Sergeant Douglas Spence McNeil (1312485) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Albert Mills (1377603) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Sergeant Frederick George Edward Pierson (1318724) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Charles Robert Podmore (402538) (Wireless 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/152 /215
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line