Tasmanian War Casualties

World War 11 Casualties

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Brock, Harold Eric

The following is taken from TASMANIANS AT WAR IN THE AIR 1939-1945 with the kind permission of Brian Winspear

Jim and Joe Brock were two outstanding young Tasmanian brothers who joined the R.A.A.F. in 1942. They were champion athletes and brilliant scholars at Launceston Grammar, and they were destined to take over the 120,000 acre property “Lawrenny” in the Derwent Valley when they returned from the war. It was not to be.

They both finished up in No. 455 Squadron on Beaufighters, based at Langham, with Jim as a Warrant Officer nav/radio operator, and Joe who was a Flying Officer pilot. Their sister Judy (now Lewis) answered the door twice within six months to receive each time one of those dreaded telegrams, “Regret to inform you……………..” Their mother Jean, who had recently lost her husband, was relying on her Uncle Eric to manage the property until the boys returned. Her devastation can be imagined.

In August ’44 Jim went first when his Beaufighter was hit by flak and crashed into the sea off the Frisian Islands . No survivors were found.

In February 45 Joe was struggling to make Scotland in his badly damaged Beaufighter. On reaching the coast he ordered his navigator to bale out over land, but by the time he himself got out he was over water. He was seen drifting out to sea and later his body was washed up on East Frisian Island where it was buried by the Germans. His navigator survived.

After the war “Lawrenny” was sold to the Government at a low price as a soldier settlement project.

Portrait of Flight Sergeant Harold Eric Brock, Glenora Tasmania. A navigator of No 455 (Beaufighter) squadron RAAF with Coastal Command at RAF Station Langham

Flight Sergeant Brock was killed on operations over North West Europe on 10 Aug 1944

Photo Courtesy Australian War Memorial

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Tasmanian War Casualties, Honouring the past, building understanding.