LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant John Phillip Henry WALLACE
Service No: 413464
Born: Bellingen NSW, 12 July 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 623 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Downham Market
Died: Air Operations: (No. 623 Squadron Stirling aircraft EF155), Germany, 18 November 1943, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery, Kamp Lintfort Nordrhein- Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Harkness Stanley and Abigail Elizabeth Wallace, of Taree, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Taree NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Taree World War 2 and Post War Memorials, Taree NSW
Remembered: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Honour Rolls, Sydney NSW
At 1720 hours on the night of 18 November 1943, Stirling EF155 took off from Downham Market detailed to bomb Mannheim, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off, and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed at Edenkoben, 9 kms north of Landau in der Platz. Five of the crew members were killed and three became Prisoners of War.
The crew members of EF155 were:
Sergeant Robert Luscombe Gill (1459774) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flying Officer N Lampard (134706) (RAFVR) (Navigator) PoW
Sergeant T V Lewis (1313601) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer Frank Markham (161356) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer William Gordon Moore (420900) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Douglas Hartley Petch (J/14027) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant John Phillip Henry Wallace (413464) (Pilot)
Sergeant J W Windle (651682) (RAF) (Flight Engineer) PoW
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, 166/43/421
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line