Walton-on-the-Naze VII Memorial

Local remembrance and memorial support

Local authority responsible for memorial upkeep

Imperial War Museums register entry for the memorial to the crew of Halifax Bomber RG475, 432 Squadron RCAF, at Walton-on-the-Naze. The crew were lost on the night of 5/6 March 1945 returning from an operational mission.

Crew: S/L Edwin Alfred Hayes (pilot), Flt Lt John George Clothier, P/O Douglas Marvin Cooke, F/O Colin Maxwell Hay, P/O D. Ringrose, Flt Lt Glenn Royal Harris, P/O Marius Bendt Nielsen, P/O Gilbert Melbourne Orser. Seven buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey; one at Monmouth.

Registry entry for the Halifax RG475 memorial monument at Walton-on-the-Naze. Documents the 432 (Leaside) Squadron RCAF loss and the memorial erected in 1979.

Halifax VII designated QO-L with 8 recorded operations. Airscrew blades were recovered in 1979 by officers and cadets of the Colchester and Clacton Air Training Corps. Memorial dedicated that same year.

Official RCAF Association heritage page for 432 (Leaside) Squadron, documenting the unit's wartime history operating from East Moor as part of 6 Group (RCAF) Bomber Command.

432 Squadron was part of the all-Canadian 6 Group, Bomber Command. Operated Halifax aircraft from RAF East Moor, Yorkshire. The squadron suffered significant losses in the final months of the war.