LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Alfred Byrne SLADE
Service No: 407651
Born: Yorketown SA, 23 April 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 December 1940
Unit: No. 38 Squadron (RAF), Berka III Landing Ground, Libya
Died: Air Operations (No. 38 Squadron Wellington aircraft HZ603), Aegean Sea, 27 October 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Leonard Aston Slade and Ellen Slade, of Stansbury, York Peninsula, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Stansbury SA
Remembered: Column 278, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Wellington HZ603 of No. 38 Squadron took off from Nicosia at 1827 hours on 27 October 1943 to carry out an offensive operation in the Aegean Sea, and then return to Berka III. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. All crew members were killed.
The crew members of HZ603 were:
Warrant Officer Vernon Stewart Barnes (406324) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Charles Donald Bernard Dubery (1289187) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Lieutenant Clive Lancelot Garlick (209689V) (SAAF) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Alfred Henry Haworth (979392) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Donald Arthur McCord (407560) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Alfred Byrne Slade (407651) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Douglas Ralph Walton (139217) (RAFVR) (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, 166/37/229