Personnel Index - Detail
Awarded the DFC.
21/22 June, 1944; WESSELING:
That fateful morning at Fiskerton, as the station slowly stirred into life, those fresh from sleep found the whole situation incredulous; six empty dispersals. A bomber base becomes hardened, perhaps almost immune to a steady loss of crews, but on that Thursday morning, at Fiskerton, Dunholme, East Kirkby and Spilsby, all were totally stunned.
The total casualty list from the operation was 37 aircraft missing, representing 27.8 per centof the Lancaster force.
P/O Bert Shinn DFC and crew are known to have come down in the sea off the Dutch coast. P/O Shinn's body was washed ashore near Brouwershaven on 11 July, 1944; he is now buried at Bergan op Zoom. The body of F/Sgt Stanley Hawes was recovered from the beach at Wassenaar also on 11 July, 1944; he is buried in The Hague (Westduin) Cemetery. F/O John Stanley's body was recovered from the sea on 17 July, 1944; he rests with his skipper in Bergen op Zoom Cemetery.
Lancaster ND683 (EA-K)
P/O A.W. Shinn DFC Pilot (Killed)
Sgt N.G.V. Pettit F/E (Missing)
F/O J.B. Stanley NAV (Killed)
F/S S. Hawes W/AG (Killed)
Sgt A.E. Dicken A/G (Killed)
P/O V.C. Cully RCAF B/A (Missing)
Sgt A. Armstrong A/G (Missing)
Crew on their 10th opeartion