Search for relatives of slain WWII ‘Bankstown bomber boy’ Flight-Sergeant Rex Valentine Donowa

A WAR historian is searching for relatives of a “Bankstown bomber boy” who was killed when he and his crew were shot down over Belgium in World War II.

A wartime photo of “Bankstown bomber boy”, Flight-Sergeant Rex Valentine Donowa (front, left) and his Bomber Command crew.

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A WAR historian is searching for relatives of a “Bankstown bomber boy” who was killed when he and his crew were shot down over Belgium in World War II.

Flight-Sergeant Rex Valentine Donowa and his crew were in a Lancaster bomber flying over Postel on April 23, 1944. He was 21.

In 2008 Belgian researcher Wim Govaerts launched an international search for information about Flt-Sgt Donowa and the fellow­ airmen of ND715.

The search turned up a description­ and photo of the “committed Christian lad” with his soccer team in 1939.

Little else is known about Flt-Sgt Donowa’s life before joining the military.

A picture showing Flt-Sgt Rex Valentine Donowa in 1939 (third from left) with his soccer team.

Now, English war historian Kelvin Youngs is searching for living relatives of Flt-Sgt Donowa after uncovering­ a wartime photo of the crew.

“We are in contact with some researchers in Belgium who honour this crew at the Schoonselhof Cemetery every year and they wanted our help to perhaps inform relatives that their loved ones are remembered,” he said.

“It is vital that we remember these boys, we have lost them once which was of course very sad and to lose them again is a disgrace.”

A British Lancastrian Mark III aeroplane like the one Flt-Sgt Donowa and his crew were assigned to.

Flt-Sgt Donowa was the son of Bankstown real estate agents Valentine Crawford and Maisie Donowa and was called up for army service in 1942. He later transferred to the RAAF and was drafted to the Bomber Command in the UK.

The crew of ND715 were running bombing assaults near Dusseldorf in western Germany.

The wreckage of their plane was found in open country south of Postel.

Flt-Sgt Donowa is among the names on war graves in Antwerp.

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Mr Youngs said he was hopeful the Bankstown boy’s relatives would come forward to claim the photographs.

He was also searching for a woman named Julie Simpson, who previously assisted with the search.
If you have information about Flt-Sgt Donowa’s family you can call [phone].