GENDERS, David Eustace
| Service Number: | 437919 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 November 1943, Adelaide, SA |
| Last Rank: | Flying Officer |
| Last Unit: | No. 22 Squadron (RAAF) |
| Born: | Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia, 16 May 1925 |
| Home Town: | Burra (SA), Goyder, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Burra Public School, Burra High School, St. Peters College, South Australia |
| Occupation: | Chartered Accountant Clerk |
| Died: | Prisoner of War, Celebes, Netherlands East Indies, 10 May 1945, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Column 8, Ambon Memorial Ambon, Kota Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia. Cenotaph: Burra Cemetery Burra, Regional Council of Goyder, South Australia, Australia |
| Memorials: | Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Ambon Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Burra Fallen Soldiers Memorial, Burra High School Avenue of Memory, Hackney St Peter's College WW2 Honour Roll, Mount Gambier Christ Church Memorial Windows |
World War 2 Service
| 6 Nov 1943: | Involvement Flying Officer, 437919 | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Nov 1943: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 437919, No. 22 Squadron (RAAF), Adelaide, SA | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement |
Help us honour David Eustace Genders's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Mari Walker
Son of Stanley Charles and Millecent Roslyn Genders, of Nailsworth, South Australia.
F/O David Genders was serving with No. 22 Squadron. On 27 February 1945 Beaufighter A8-135 was one of four aircraft detailed to attack Isimoe Bridge near Gorontalo in the Northern Celebes. Immediately after releasing bombs at the end of a shallow dive, the aircraft struck a tree and crashed into the ground, disintegrating on impact. F/O Genders was the navigator. The pilot, Squadron Leader J. Holloway, was killed in the crash and F/O Genders suffered a broken leg. F/O Genders was captured by the Japanese and was eventually taken to Singkang which was a journey of several hundred miles over rough mountain roads. F/O Genders’ body was never found but from various interrogations with the Japanese, it is believed that F/O Genders died from blood poisoning and was cremated. His actual date of death was undetermined but his death was officially presumed to have occurred on or after 10 May 1945.
Information has been received by Mr. S. C. Genders, of the National Bank, Nailsworth, that his son, PO David Eustace Genders, has now been presumed to have died during May, 1945, while a prisoner of war in Japanese hands. The Beaufighter plane, of which he was navigator, crashed over Celebes in operations on February 27, 1945. He survived the crash, but had a broken leg, and died later from septicaemia.
The late Mr. Genders was a grandson of the late Mr. Francis Davison (solicitor) Mount Gambier. His mother, formerly Miss Rosalind Davison, died about three years ago.
Commemorated Christ Church Mount Gambier Memorial Windows
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