- Died
- 16 September 1943, aged 30
- Fate
- Killed in action
Biography
George Walton Holden was born in 1913 in Oldham, the son of Frederick Charles and Beatrice Holden, and was later associated with Twickenham in Middlesex. He joined the Royal Air Force and was commissioned during the war, going on to fly as a bomber pilot with No. 102 and No. 35 Squadrons. A skilled and aggressive operational airman, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross in September 1941 and a Bar to it in February 1943, followed by the Distinguished Service Order in June 1943 and a Mention in Despatches. In the summer of 1943 he was given command of the elite No. 617 Squadron, the “Dam Busters,” succeeding Guy Gibson. His tenure was brief: on the night of 15/16 September 1943, leading a low-level attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, his Lancaster was shot down. Holden was killed alongside several veterans of the original Dams raid. Aged 30, he is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
Burial / commemoration
- Cemetery
- Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany
Operations on this date. 2 raids in this archive were flown on the night of 16 September 1943: Operation Garlic · Modane. (Cross-reference by date — not in itself confirmation this airman flew it.)
Timeline
-
15 September 1943
Flew Operation Garlic
Pilot, EE144 AJ-S — Failed to return -
16 September 1943
Died
aged 30
Crew & operations
Flew as Pilot with No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters).
- Operation Garlic (15 September 1943) — aircraft EE144 AJ-S (Avro Lancaster) — Failed to return
Crew: Frederick Michael Spafford (Bomb aimer) · Dennis John Dean Powell (Flight engineer) · George Andrew Deering (Front gunner) · Thomas Alfred Meikle (Mid-upper gunner) · Torger Harlo Taerum (Navigator) · Henry James Pringle (Rear gunner) · Robert Edward George Hutchison (Wireless operator)