Walter John Catchpole

A Flight Sergeant with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, Walter died on 15th of February 1944 aged 20. 

Walter was born at Lowestoft on 8 September 1923, a son of John Durrant and Martha May Catchpole. He was baptised at Saint Mark’s Church on 11 November 1923 and his family lived at 5 Garden Terrace, Victoria Road. By 1939 his family home was at 3 Olive Cottages, Carlton Colville.

Walter enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve after December 1941. By February 1944 he was a Flight Engineer with 156 Squadron flying out of Warboys, Huntingdonshire. On 15 February he was a member of the crew of a Lancaster III bomber, number ND504, that took part in a large raid on Berlin. Walter's aircraft was lost without trace and all of the crew were killed.

WITH THANKS TO: Malcolm Barrass