RAAF centenary: Donnybrook family reflects on uncle’s war sacrifices

Donnybrook’s Russell Trigwell joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a sergeant-wireless operator/air gunner in 1941 until his crew went on a bombing raid in Essen, Germany on April 3, 1943 never to be seen again. With yesterday the RAAF’s centenary, Russell’s nephew — named Russell after his uncle — shared his family’s story. For 48 years no one knew what happened to the plane until a Dutch fisherman found a plane part in his nets while trawling for shrimp in the Wadden Sea. It belonged to the squadron’s Lancaster W4894 GT-T, and this marked the beginning of closure for the families. In 1991 a diver found a lump of ammunition with a bracelet belonging to the Canadian from the squad, Donald Lawrence Robertson, and from this Russell’s plane was finally identified. Only one crew member’s body was found when it washed ashore, while the rest remain missing. A group of Dutch, who dedicate their time to helping families find what happened to their lost relatives, contacted the families of the crew members in the UK, Australia and Canada and are still searching the Wadden Sea for other plane wreckages to help bring closure to more families. “It’s amazing they’ve gone out of their way to do that,” Mr Trigwell said. Mr Trigwell, who lives in Bunbury, said his uncle was one of four brothers, all of whom served in the RAAF, and was only 22 years old when his plane was believed to be shot down by a German night fighter east of Texel Island, Netherlands. Mr Trigwell said while Russell’s dog tags had not been found, it was moving to visit the Netherlands in 2017 and experience a closer connection to his uncle. “It’s sad when you think of how young they were, but what happened to Uncle Russ would’ve happened time after time to other RAAF members,” he said. “I visited the Belgian war memorial at the Menin Gate for Australians and Commonwealth soldiers who couldn’t be found and hundreds turn out when they play the Last Post each night. “It’s important to see the memories are not lost of what the Australians have done.” Sergeant Russell Seymour Trigwell has been remembered at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, State War Memorial in Kings Park and the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey UK, which is dedicated to some 20,300 men and women from air forces of the British Empire who were lost in operations during World War II.