Flight Sergeant 426716 John William van Cooten RAAF 115 Squadron RAF...
...was born 13th of February 1922 at Sandgate, Queensland, the son of William John Fraser Van Cooten and Lucy Van Cooten, of South Brisbane, Queensland. Sgt van Cooten qualified as a school teacher in 1941. His career was brief as he enlisted the 18th July 1942, training as an observer and navigator in Australia before embarking for England the following year.
Promoted to Flight Sergeant, he was posted to 115 Squadron RAF, at Witchford, Cambridgeshire.
On the night of 17th-18th June 1944, the squadron despatched fourteen Lancasters, each carrying eighteen 500lb bombs to attack rail targets at Montidier, France.
One of the aircraft was Lancaster HK559, aircraft code A4-H, which took off at 01.02 with Sgt van Hooten and his crew, who were - P/O Aus/423186 John Alan Traill RAAF (Pilot) aged 21 Sgt 574270 Douglas Albert Dawson (F/E) aged 22 F/Sgt Aus/423913 Ian Harrison Smith RAAF (Nav) aged 21 F/Sgt Aus/426716 John William van Cooten RAAF (AB) aged 22 F/Sgt 1059197 Peter Duff RAFVR (WOp/AG) aged 34 Sgt 1896471 Ernest Edward Stapley RAFVR (AG) aged 35 Sgt 1816757 Kenneth Edward Laxton RAFVR (AG) aged 20
Nothing further was heard from the aircraft and it was not until April 1945 that the fate of the aircraft and crew was confirmed, when an identity disc belonging to one of the crew was handed in to British authorities by a farmer at Oise, France. Witnesses of the crash saw the burning aircraft diving vertically, crashing near the village of Gannes at about 2am, where it exploded on impact killing all on board. Debris was scattered over a wide area and the roof of a nearby house was ripped off. Several hours later, an unexploded bomb blew up, spreading more debris around the area. The remains of the crew were placed in two coffins for burial. The funeral took place on Wednesday 21st June in the church of Gannes, before burial in a communal grave in Gannes Communal Cemetery. A large crowd gathered to pay tribute to the seven airman; their grave is next to those of French soldiers who died in 1940. Towards the end of the war, the communal grave was marked with wooden crosses, one for each airman. Each cross was later replaced with a CWGC headstone.
A number of memorial services for the crew have been held at the cemetery. It seems possible that the Lancaster was hit by anti-aircraft fire en-route to the target as cloud conditions over the target caused the raid to be abandoned without any bombs being dropped.
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