LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Leslie Harold WATTERS
Service No: 413495
Born: Narrandera NSW, 31 May 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 156 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Warboys
Died: Air Operations: (No. 156 Squadron Lancaster aircraft W4140), Germany, 27 April 1943, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harold and May Godden Watters; grandson of Mrs. G. Copland, of Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Berala NSW
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0043 hours on the morning of 27 April 1943 Lancaster W4140 took off from Warboys detailed to bomb Duisberg, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in the target area and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of W4140 were:
Sergeant Bernard Patrick Ashcroft (1699995) (RAFVR) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant Colin Niven Bonar (1392125) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Sydney Crowther Brown (1034865) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Ronald Eric Funnell (1330590) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Leopold Ernest Lindsey (131905) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Harold Watters (413495) (Rear Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Donald Herbert Waugh (R/108809) (RCAF) (Pilot)
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, 166/43/166