LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer Colin Keith WATERS
Service No: 437459
Born: Booleroo Centre SA, 13 August 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 30 January 1943
Unit: No. 463 Squadron, RAF Waddington Lincolnshire
Died: Illness, Adelaide SA, 19 November 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Centennial Park Cemetery Adelaide
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Leonard and Margaret Waters, of Booleroo Centre
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 109, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Warrant Officer Waters was admitted to 7 RAAF Hospital Adelaide on 8 August 1945. He was then transferred to 121 Australian General Hospital on 9th August 1945. He died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis on 19th November 1945.
He was a member (Wireless Operator Air Gunner) of 463 Squadron and that Squadron’s Operations Record Book (ORB) records him as a member of Flying Officer W P Caldwell’s crew on 11 May 1944 in Lancaster SW268, when 14 aircraft from the Squadron took part in an attack on Essen, Germany of over 1,000 aircraft. No Squadron aircraft were lost on this mission. A further ORB entry on 23 May 1945 lists the then Flight Sergeant Waters as being ‘Base N/E sick’. It is assumed that at some stage he was repatriated to Australia and admitted to No. 7 RAAF Hospital on 8 August 1945.
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, 166/43/1743