Easton, Donald Murray (Flight Sergeant, b.1924 - d.1945)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of 432498 Flight Sergeant Donald Murray Easton, 61 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Australia and the United Kingdom, 1943-1947.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Contains two folders of material relating to Flight Sergeant Donald Murray Easton.

Folder 1 of 2 consists of one log book of Flight Sergeant Easton, containing entries dated between 19 August 1943 and 20 March 1945. This log book covers the period of Flight Sergeant Easton’s training in Australia and the United Kingdom, and service as a wireless operator with 61 Squadron, based in the United Kingdom. It records details such as dates and times of flights, aircraft types and numbers, pilots, and purposes of flights. Some of the recorded purposes of flights include wireless air gunner training, bombing and gunnery training, operational training, aircraft conversion, cross country flights, bombing operations targeting German-occupied Europe. This log book also contains one official receipt for tobacco, dated 7 October 1944, and one letter from Air Force Headquarters to Flight Sergeant Easton’s mother, Mrs Alice Easton, dated 13 February 1946.

Folder 2 of 2 consists of correspondence relating to the service and death of Flight Sergeant Easton. It contains:
3x Telegrams from Flight Sergeant Easton to his mother, Mrs Alice Easton, Lindfield, New South Wales, 24 February – 24 March 1943. Through these telegrams, Flight Sergeant Easton informs his mother of approaching home visits.
1x Notification of First Overseas Address card
2x Letters from Flight Sergeant Easton to his mother, England, 3 April and 3 November 1944. In these letters, Flight Sergeant Easton writes about sending photographs home, meeting old friends, going on his first few bombing operations, attending a dance, and particulars relating to his fellow crewmembers.
1x Letter from the Wing Commander Scott of 61 Squadron to Mrs Easton, Skellingthorpe, England, 23 March 1945. In this letter, Wing Commander Scott informs Mrs Easton that Flight Sergeant Easton was reported missing after an air operation targeting Bohlen, Germany.
1x Letter from the Department of Air to Mrs Easton, Melbourne, Victoria, 9 April 1946. This letter is a response to an enquiry made by Mrs Easton concerning further information about Flight Sergeant Easton.
1x Letter from the Imperial War Graves Commission to Mrs Easton, Melbourne, Victoria, 6 November 1947. This letter relates to the photography of Flight Sergeant Easton’s grave.

Flight Sergeant Donald Murray Easton enlisted to the Royal Australian Air Force on 2 January 1943. He was given the service number of 432498. After a period of training in Australia and the United Kingdom, he served as a wireless operator with 61 Squadron, based at Skellingthorpe airfield in England. With this squadron, Flight Sergeant Easton participated in bombing operations on strategic locations across occupied Europe and and Nazi Germany. On 21 March 1945, Flight Sergeant Easton and his six other crewmates onboard their Lancaster Mk1 bomber serial RA560 and coded DX-K, were killed in a flying battle over Germany. He is buried at Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany.