This is Teddy’s last letter home, written two days before the Essen raid. Instead of the promised visit from her son, Teddy’s mother, Muriel, received a telegram and a letter from Wing Commander Gomm at Bottesford.

The crew had been posted as missing but official confirmation of their deaths was not received for three long months. Information from German sources was passed to the International Red Cross and Teddy’s family received the news by a telegram from the Air Ministry on 30th August.

The Crew

RAAF Flt Lt Desmond, J M Captain (Pilot)
RAF PO Cribbin, G (Navigator)
RAF PO Lockwood, J N (Bomb Aimer)
RAF Flt Sgt G F Paddon, (Wireless Operator)
RAF Sgt E S Davis, (Flight Engineer)
RAF PO Cazaly, C K (Mid Upper Gunner)
RAAF PO Ryalls, J R (Rear Gunner)

John Lockwood     Keith Cazaly    (Graham Joseph)        John Ryalls
      George Cribbin         John Desmond           Teddy Davis

The crew were initially buried in Barlo cemetery as seen in this International Red Cross photo.

In 1949 they were moved from Barlo and re-interred in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, which is cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A temporary marker was replaced by these individual headstones which mark the crew’s final resting place.