LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Harvey James PORTER
Service No: 433742
Born: Annandale NSW, 2 March 1925
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 May 1943
Unit: No. 103 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Elsham Wolds
Died: Air Operations: (No. 103 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ME449), Denmark, 13 March 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Tarm Isolated Graves, Denmark
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John James Porter and Stella May Porter, of Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Drummoyne War Memorial, Drummoyne NSW
Brother of Pilot Officer Raymond Robert George Porter (21526)
Lancaster ME449 took off from RAF Elsham Wolds at 1743hours on the night of 12 March 1945 detailed to lay mines in the Kattegat area. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night and crashed at 2145 hours at Ostergaard, Denmark, near Tarm on Jutland’s west coast. Two of the crew members were killed and the other five evaded capture.
The crew members of ME449 were:
Pilot Officer Mervyn Henry Bertie (433499) (Air Bomber) Evaded capture, Discharged from the RAAF: 1 August 1946
Warrant Officer T Fairclough (1077120) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) Evaded capture
Sergeant K Foster (1827859) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) Evaded capture
Flying Officer Harold Albert Stoney Mitchell (433608) (Navigator) Evaded capture, Discharged from the RAAF: 25 June 1946
Sergeant Donald Morris (3040748) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Harvey James Porter (433742) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Squadron Leader Slater (145503) (RAFVR) (Pilot) Evaded capture
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, 166/33/324
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line