Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Provided to VWMA for publication by “Historical Unrecovered War Casualties – Air Force”.

Squadron Leader Donald HILLIER, O4425/437295, was born in Medindie, SA, on 23 November 1923. He attended Adelaide High School until Jun 1938. Prior to enlistment, he was employed as a warehouse salesman and as a metal machinist with General Motors Holden SA. He enlisted in RAAF on 9 December 1942, in Adelaide as trainee Pilot and was awarded his wings on 15 Dec 1943. During WW2, he served with No 75 and 80 Sqn throughout Papua New Guinea and South West Pacific Area during 1944. He returned to Australia in Feb 1945 and commenced Flight instructional duties until 1950 when he was posted to No 3 Squadron this was followed by a posting to No 77 Squadron Korea on 25 Aug 1952 to fly meteors. He was listed MIA believed killed on 8 March 1953, aged 29. He was married to Linda Maurine.

Mission Summary

Squadron Leader Donald HILLIER, Service No: O4425, DoB: 23 November 1923, MIA 8 March 1953, LKP TOKYO GRID BT 7834, latitude and longitude 38 13 00N 126 29 00E last seen tracking SE from BT 7834.

On 08 March 1953, SQNLDR Hillier was Number One of a 4 meteor aircraft formation tasked to conduct armed reconnaissance in the Nanchooryou -Hampo-ri -Yangdok area. At around 1303 -1305 SQNLDR Hillier and his wingman SGT Martin conducted a rocket attack on a tracked vehicle believed to be an AFV. After his pass, SQNLDR Hillier was seen to be tracking SE at 1000ft straight and level. SGT Martin completed his pass and was unable to locate SQNLDR Hillier and received no response to his radio calls. Despite, the three remaining crew conducting searches of the target area, there was no further sighting of SQNLDR Hillier. LKP is assessed as TOKYO GRID BT 7834, latitude and longitude 38 13 00N 126 29 00E last seen tracking SE from BT 7834.