BEDWELL, Horace Kempton
| Service Number: | 404165 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 21 June 1940, Brisbane, Qld. |
| Last Rank: | Flight Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | No.104 Squadron (RAF) |
| Born: | Toowoomba, Qld., 22 November 1920 |
| Home Town: | Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Queensland |
| Schooling: | East State School, Toowoomba Grammar School |
| Occupation: | Bank Clerk |
| Died: | Flying Battle, Belgium, 30 April 1942, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England, United Kingdom |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, International Bomber Command Centre Memorial, Melbourne Union Bank of Australia Limited 'In Memoriam' WW2 Honour Roll, Runnymede Air Forces Memorial, Toowoomba Grammar School WW2 Honour Board, Toowoomba P.A.F.S.O.A. Beaconsfield Lodge No 15, Toowoomba Roll of Honour WW2, Toowoomba WW2 Roll of Honour Book, Toowoomba War Memorial (Mothers' Memorial), Yorketown Kadina Union Bank WW2 Roll of Honor |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Flight Sergeant, 404165 | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 404165, No.104 Squadron (RAF), Brisbane, Qld. |
Help us honour Horace Kempton Bedwell's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Edward Kempton Bedwell and Simona Jeanne Charlotte Bedwell nee Oehlman, of Toowoomba, Queensland
Flight Sergeant Horace Kempton Bedwell was an Air Observer and a member of the crew of a No. 158 Squadron Royal Air Force Wellington Bomber 2 Z8525 that took off from the Royal Air Force Station at Driffield, Yorkshire at 21.28 hours on 29th April 1942 to conduct a bombing attack at Ostend, Belgium, on the night of the 29/30th April 1942. The aircraft carried 12×250 pound general purpose bombs. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after it left its base. The Air Ministry notified his father, residing at 65 Curzon Street in Toowoomba, that he was missing as a result of air operations. He was the only Australian member of the crew.
BEDWELL.— In loving memory of Sergeant Navigator Horace Kempton Bedwell, R.A.A.F., 21 years (and R.A.F. Crew), who lost his life in air opera-tions over Europe 30/4/42.
Youth saves our country, do we elders know
The weight and volume of the debt we owe?
Much to the dead, how much to those who live?
The dead gave all, the living yet may give.
Inserted by his loving parents, Major and Mrs. Kempton Bedwell, and his sister, Dorothy, of 65 Curzon Street, Toowoomba.
Major Kempton Bedwell and Mrs Bedwell, 65 Curzon Street, Toowoomba, have been advised by the Air Board that their son, Sergeant-Observer H.K. Bedwell, is reported missing from air operations on April 30. Sergeant-Observer Bedwell enlisted in the R.A.A.F. in February 1940. After training in New South Wales he left for Canada, where he graduated as a Sergeant-Observer. On his arrival in England he was attached to the R.A.F. Bomber Command as navigator of a Wellington bomber. Before his enlistment he was on the staff of the Union Bank at Jandowae. He was educated at the East State School and at the Toowoomba Grammar School.