LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Harold Menzies SPENCE
Service No: 402411
Born: Auburn NSW, 11 June 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 19 August 1940
Unit: No. 83 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Scampton
Died: Air Operations: (No. 83 Squadron Lancaster aircraft R5636), North West Europe, 11 June 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Angus Menzies Spence and Winifred Louisa Spence, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Rose Bay NSW
Remembered: Panel 113, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2214 hours on 11 June 1942 Lancaster R5636 took off from Scampton for a mining operation in the vicinity of the Friesian Islands. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations, it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of R5636 were:
Sergeant Thomas Harry Clark (R/54784) (RCAF) (Second Wireless Operator)
Pilot Officer Phillip Stanley Mackay (112493) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant John William Melhuish (913679) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Sergeant Derrick John Monk (922739) (RAFVR) (First Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Dennis Neill O’Day (1059607) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Sergeant Harold Menzies Spence (402411) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Flying Officer William Kenneth Williams (401086) (Navigator/Bomb Aimer)
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, 163/163/391