Reginald Samuel Hond
Wireless Operator, 75 (New Zealand) Squadron
Service number 1214443
Died 5 October 1944
Buried Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany
Age 23
Headstone Inscription
‘IN LOVING MEMORY. MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE’
Reginald was born in 1921 in West Ham, Essex to Henry and Freda née Goldstein and had two older siblings, Gertrude and Stanley. Their father Henry was a stained glass worker and their mother Freda ran a tobacconist shop.
Reginald was the wireless operator on Lancaster ND904 which departed from RAF Mepal on a night operation to Saarbrucken. The aircraft collided mid-air with a Lancaster from 115 Squadron, PD344 over Germany. Both aircraft crashed at Wolsfeld, Germany killing both crews.
Pilot, F/S Alan Russell Galletly, RNZAF
Nav, F/S Stuart Edwin Mosley, RNZAF
A/B, Sgt. Roy Albert Wells
W/Op, Sgt. Reginald Samuel Hond
F/E, Sgt. Peter Eric Tuthill
MUG, Sgt. Arthur Kitchener Sutton,
R/G, Sgt. John Peter Cooke