LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Roger Fisher Rowe SIDES
Service No: 412850
Born: Summer Hill NSW, 19 March 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 20 July 1941
Unit: No. 100 Squadron (RAF), RAF Grimsby, Lincolnshire
Died: Air Operations: (No. 100 Squadron Lancaster aircraft ED544), Germany, 12 March 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Frederick and Gertrude Evelyn Sides, of Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cootamundra NSW
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cootamundra War Memorial, Cootamundra NSW
Lancaster ED544 took off from RAF Grimsby at 1937 hours on the night of 12/13th March 1943, detailed to bomb Essen, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. Post war it was learned that all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of ED544 were:
Pilot Officer Douglas Invicta Arthur (50778) (RAF) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant William Eric Chamberlain (1476619) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Ernest Hodgson (1506082) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Harold Jowitt (945664) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ronald Moseley Peake (408871) (Pilot)
Sergeant Arthur Reece Roberts (407909) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Roger Fisher Rowe Sides (412850) (Navigator)
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, 166/37/50
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line