LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Maurice WARD
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
RAF Service No: 641509 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: Date unavailable
Unit: No. 20 Operational Training Unit (RAF), RAF Station Lossiemouth
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 20 Operational Training Unit Wellington IA aircraft N2884), North Sea, 28 November 1940, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Geoffrey and Ellen Margaret Ward, of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 20, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Commemorative Roll, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
On 28 November 1940, Wellington N2884 took off from Lossiemouth for a night navigation exercise over the North Sea. The aircraft was last heard on radio sending a distress message and indicating the port engine had failed and height could not be maintained. It is assumed that shortly after 1806 hours, the Wellington went into the sea in position 57.18N 001.08E (some 70 miles east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire). All crew members are perpetuated on the Runnymede Memorial. Other crews who were in the exercise area at the time report extremely inclement weather, coupled with heavy seas. The loss of nine lives in a single incident was the most grievous since the formation of the Bomber Command Operational Training Units.
The crew members of N2884 were:
Flying Officer Colin Granville Birch DFC (40984) (RAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Benjamin Butler (627874) (RAF)
Sergeant John Campbell Dickson MID (759323) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Norman Gaskell (646822) (RAF)
Sergeant Thomas Graham (972571) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Douglas George Johnson (968163) (RAFVR)
Pilot Officer Robert Vevers (87653) (RAF)
Sergeant Maurice Ward (641509) (RAF)
Sergeant Donald Williamson (968020 (RAFVR)
References:
Australian War Memorial Commemorative Roll On-Line Records
Chorley, W.R. Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War Volume 7 Operational Training Units 1940-1947, Midland Counties Publications UK, 2002
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records