LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Harold Kenneth PUGH
Service No: 415916
Born: Perth WA, 25 May 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 29 March 1942
Unit: No. 640 Squadron (RAF), RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 640 Squadron Halifax aircraft RG540), North Sea, 18 April 1945, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Frank Reginald Hendy Pugh and Lavinia May Pugh; husband of Edith Myrtle Pugh, of Leederville, Western Australia. Muresk Diploma of Agriculture (Honours), 1937.
Roll of Honour: Mount Barker WA
Remembered: Panel 283, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Halifax RG564 of 640 Squadron took off from RAF Station Leconfield on 18 April 1945 to attack Heligoland, Germany. The aircraft carried 9 x 1000 ANM, 4 x 500 MC, 7600 rounds ammunition, and enough fuel for 7 hours flying. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off, and it did not return to base. Sergeant Lishman’s body was recovered from the sea and is buried in the Hamburg
British Military Cemetery. Other bodies were also recovered but could not be identified and were buried as unknown airmen. In 1949 it was recorded that Flying Officer Pugh and the other unaccounted-for members of the crew had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of RG540 were:
Warrant Officer Harold Kendall Franklin (427782) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Thornley Jaques (1522705) (RAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant George Alfred Knowles (3040961) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Archibald Rowan Lishman (1595712) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant William Probert (1566612) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer Harold Kenneth Pugh (415916) (Pilot)
Sergeant John Whittenbury (1805467) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer Pugh was the pilot of an aircraft involved in a mid-air collision on 15 November 1944 in which Flight Sergeant Ian O’Connor (29520) was killed.
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, 166/33/345