Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Harold was born in Midland, Western Australia on the 5th of November 1921, he would grow up in the area, developing an affinity with mechanical work, working as a mechanic and cycle builder at Pal’s Cycles in North Perth.

Harold was 17 when War broke out, and shortly after his 19th Birthday, he would enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force on the 16th of December 1940, initially as an Aircraft Rigger, working on the flight control surfaces of aircraft. Initially training at RAAF Pearce, before continuing his training in Ascot Vale, then being posted to the No 4 Service Flying Training School in Geraldton. He would continue as a rigger at the No 1 Elementary Flying Training School in Parafield, before transferring to Pilot training.

Harold would begin his flight training in December 1942, and would spend the next 9 months training in locations such as Kingaroy, Narromine and Bundaberg, flying Tiger Moths and trainer bomber aircraft such as the Avro Anson, Oxford, Wellington and Stirling, before qualifying on the 26th of August 1943. In October, he would be sent to the UK to join a RAF squadron.

Harold would arrive in November, but would spend the next few months waiting at the Despatch centre in Brighton. This was normal for the time, while waiting for training or service unit. He would then spend until September training, although he would also put his down time to good use, meeting his eventual wife Joan, while she was working in a Rolls Royce factory, they would be married in Crewe on the 13th of September 1944. A week later, he would join 619 Squadron of the RAF, flying Lancaster Bombers out of RAF Strubby in Lincolnshire. Harold would fly with the 619 until the 8th of February 1945.

During a bombing raid over what is now Poland, on the city of Politz (Police), Harold and 6 other men were shot down near Stettin (Szczecin). While the Rear Gunner survived to be taken prisoner, Harold and the 5 other members did not survive the crash. He was only 23.

He would leave behind both Joan his wife and his son Rodney. Joan and Rodney would migrate to Western Australia after the war.

Today with no known grave, Harold is memorialised at the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, England, along with over 20,000 men and women who served the allied and commonwealth Air Forces in Europe with no known grave.