LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Maurice Keith Hazard WILSON
Service No: 414872
Born: Brisbane QLD, 11 July 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 November 1941
Unit: No. 611 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 611 Squadron Spitfire aircraft R6888), France, 14 June 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Culey-Le-Patry Communal Cemetery, Calvados, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Robert Maurice Hasard Wilson and Ida Whiteside Wilson, of Auchenflower, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 132, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 14 June 1944, Spitfire R6888 was one of a formation of aircraft from the Squadron that took off from Advance Landing Ground Beasland, Sussex, to carry out a routine patrol over the assault area at Normandy, France, and provide fighter cover for other aircraft. R6888 was seen to be shot down in flames south of Caen in the Bougy area.
In a letter to Flight Sergeant’s Wilsons mother the Commanding Officer of No. 611 Sqn wrote: “When some 25 miles south west of Caen the squadron ran into a formation of German fighters who slightly outnumbered us. A general dog fight ensued and your son called on the radio to say his aircraft had been hit. Two members of the Squadron saw his aircraft being attacked by an Me109, but they were heavily engaged at the time and unable to go to his assistance, nor did they see what happened to him subsequently.”
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, 166/43/717