Oliver Godfrey

Oliver Godfrey was a British regular RAF officer, born around 1915–1916 and raised at Hermitage in Berkshire, the son of Charles and Patience Godfrey. His career began well before the Second World War: he served with No. 5 Squadron flying Westland Wapiti biplanes on the North-West Frontier, earning the Imperial General Service Medal for those operations. By mid-1942 he held the rank of Wing Commander and commanded crews of No. 103 Squadron, a Bomber Command Wellington unit, flying the Vickers Wellington IC. On the night of 22/23 June 1942 he piloted Wellington IC DV818 on a bombing raid against the port of Emden; the aircraft was presumed to have come down in the sea off the Dutch coast, and Godfrey was 26 years old at the time of his death. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted posthumously in the London Gazette of 23 July 1943. His body was recovered and he is buried in Plot 1, Grave 3, at Wierhuizen Protestant Cemetery in the province of Groningen, the Netherlands.