Page 189 - Who Was Sapper Brown

Not surprisingly, the campaign for a Bomber Command Memorial to commemorate the 55,573 aircrew
of Bomber Command who lost their lives in the Second World War was very dear to Jack.24 His friends

in the Episkopi Hash House Harriers set up a website to collect funds for this Memorial in his memory.
25The campaign came to fruition, with the unveiling of this Memorial by Queen Elizabeth on 28 June

2012 during her Jubilee year, in Green Park, by Hyde Park Corner,

A Dambusters Raid Veteran

Sergeant Robert Jack Henderson DFM, RAF, from Ayr,

Scotland, died during a tour of duty in Cyprus on 18 February

1961 at the age of 40 years. He is buried in Plot 1, Row A,
Grave 10.26 He was one of 11 recipients of the Distinguished

Flying Medal awarded to surviving other ranks after the
famous Dambusters raid.27 This successful attack on the

Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr Valley, Operation
CHASTISE, was carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by 617

Squadron, subsequently known as the “Dambusters”, using
a specially developed ‘bouncing bomb’ invented by Barnes

Wallis. Fifty-three of the air crew of 617 Squadron failed to
return from that raid.

Known as Bob or Lofty, Sergeant Henderson was 22 years old
when he flew as the flight engineer on Lancaster bomber AJ-L

for Leather,28 piloted by 20 year old Flight Lieutenant David
Shannon, DFC (Royal Australian Air Force), which flew in

the first wave of the Dambusters raid.29 The crew took part in
the attacks on both the Mohne and the Eder dams, dropping

their bomb on the Eder.

‘Lofty Henderson was a tall staid Scotsman, and never had much to say for himself

– he used to come out for a drink with us now and again, and we’d go for a dance in

Lincoln... We all got on like a house on fire – never any bad blood at all’ 30

24 Bomber Command Memorial http://rafbf.org/1794/bomber-command-memorial.html

25 http://www.justgiving.com/Espiskopi-Hash-House-Harriers
26 Lofty Henderson’s widow Doreen died on 11 September 2003. Her ashes were interred in her husband’s grave in May
2004 by their family, who also provided the cube vase memorial. Lofty and Doreen’s grandchildren composed the wording on

the plaque on the wooden bench behind the grave.
27 Wikipedia – ‘Operation Chastise’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise
28 L for Leather, from ‘hell for leather’
29 The already highly decorated air crew on AJ-L for Leather on the first wave of the Dambusters raid were: Pilot - Flight

Lieutenant David Shannon DFC (Royal Australian Air Force), Navigator - Flying Officer Daniel Walker DFC (Royal Canadian
Air Force), Bomb aimer - Flying Officer Leonard Sumpter, Flight engineer - Sergeant Robert Henderson, Wireless operator -
Flying Officer Brian Goodale DFC, Front gunner - Sergeant Brian Jagger, and Rear gunner – Flying Officer Jack Buckley.

30 Arthur, Max (2009), Dambusters – a landmark oral history (London: Virgin Books), p. 133. Quotation from Flight Ser-
geant Leonard Sumpter, Bomb-aimer, crew AJ-L for Leather, 617 Squadron.

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