423076 Flight Sergeant Malcolm Robert Burgess

F/S Burgess' father received a telegram on 14th June 1944 stating his son was missing in action. On 8th August he received notification that Sgt Reading was safe, followed by further unofficial correspondence confirming this.

There followed more correspondence between the Mr Burgess and the authorities as he tried to find out whether there was any chance his son was still alive. The following letter has a particularly touching PS, asking that his work address be used for any "news of a disturbing nature".

Despite being one of the two members of the crew (along with F/S Haine) who were "identified" prior to burial in the US cemetery in St Laurent sur Mer, his death wasn't confirmed to the family until 9th April 1945. A possible cause of the delay is that F/S Burgess was listed as M. P. Burcess in at least some of the US cemetery records, an error which maybe was carried over into the British records.
Below is the form for Unidentified Case# X-1, one of the same crew, buried next to F/S Burgess in St Laurent sur Mer.

CWGC page for Flight Sergeant Burgess

Photo of F/S Burgess from National Archives of Australia, A9301 423076
Correspondence from National Archives of Australia  166/5/565
Thanks to Brian Siddall for the "X-File"