LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Frank Bruce REID
Service No: 429738
Born: Berwick VIC, 4 December 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 October 1942 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 15 Squadron (RAF), RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk
Died: Air Operations (No. 15 Squadron Lancaster LM121), France, 1 June 1944, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Marissel French National Cemetery, Oise, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of the Revd. Frank Reid and Ethel Reid, of North Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Geelong VIC
Remembered: Panel 129, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Lancaster LM121 took off from RAF Mildenhall at 2357 hours on the night of 31st May/1st June 1944 to bomb railway yards at Trappes, France. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Post war a Missing Research & Enquiry team reported that “the aircraft was shot down by night fighters and crashed in a field near the village Lormaison on 1 June 1944 shortly after midnight.” Lormaison is about 30 miles north north west of Paris. All seven crew members were killed.
The crew members of LM121 were:
Pilot Officer Peter Charles Lewis Dombrain (410150) (Pilot)
Sergeant Leonard Thomas Gearing (1893333) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Lawrence Seymour Jamieson (415636) (RNZAF) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Arthur Stephen Long (425328) (Navigator)
Sergeant Raymond Geoffrey Norris (1602554) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant Stanley Arthur Nystrom (425199) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Frank Bruce Reid (429738) (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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/35/277