Name
Arthur Melvyn Roberts
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
21/01/1944
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
1318190
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
77 Sqdn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
5. L. 22.
Germany
Headstone Inscription
MEMORY IS A GOLDEN CHAIN THAT BINDS US TILL WE MEET AGAIN
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
On joining the RAF., he was given Service Number 1318190 and he became a wireless operator with 77 Squadron.
On the night of the 20th/21st January 1944 he was flying in a Halifax, LK725 KN-B, which was taking part in a raid on Berlin. Also in the same raid from 77 Squadron was F/Sgt John Taylor of Letchworth.
The following night he was on a Halifax Mark V, LK730 KN-G. The raid was on Magdeburg and was the first major attack on this target. The aircraft took off at 19.52hrs from Elvington and was not heard of again. Of the 16 aircraft put up by 77 Squadron that night 4 did not return. Overall 648 aircraft took part in the raid and 57 aircraft were lost. The attack was unsuccessful due to heavy night-fighter action, the Pathfinders zero hour being later than the time bombing commenced and the Germans having placed decoy markers.
He is buried in Plot 5, Row L, Grave 22 of the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery, Germany near F/O Footitt and F/Sgt Goodwin. A private inscription on his grave reads "Memory is a golden chain that binds us till we meet again".
His home was at 15, Hampden Road, Hitchin and he was the son of John and Martha Roberts.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘Bomber Command Diaries’ by M. Middlebrook & C. Everitt, ‘Bomber Command Losses’ by W.R. Chorley
