Sgt Richard Bernard Guest

Richard grew up in Brentwood, the son of Cecil and Mildred Guest. His father worked as a house painter, and in 1939 he was living with his parents at 89 Rose Valley, along with his two sisters who were working as servants. Richard himself was working as an inspector at a steel ball bearing factory.

During the second world war, Richard joined the RAF. He was sent to RAF Marham, where he became a gunner on Wellington bombers, flying missions over Germany.

In November 1940, the target for bomber command was Hamburg and the large Blohm & Voss shipyard there. Some 200 aircraft were sent over two days on the 16th and 17th November. Richard was in one of these crews, and he took off at 18:58 from RAF Marham on 16th November 1940 in a Wellington bomber. It was a cloudy night and visibility was poor, and there was intense flak fire as well as many enemy aircraft. Richard's plane reached Hamburg, but they were shot down and crashed in Hausbruch, just south of Hamburg. The whole crew were killed in the crash.

Richard is buried in Hamburg Ohlsdorf Cemetery next to the rest of his crew. A white military gravestone was added after the war, the epitaph reads: 'We shall remember him always as he sleeps in this strange land'.