Gordon Ronald THOMAS

Gordon Ronald THOMAS Update Details

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THOMAS, Gordon Ronald

Service Number:	417011
Enlisted:	8 November 1941
Last Rank:	Flight Sergeant
Last Unit:	No. 22 Squadron (RAAF)
Born:	Norwood, South Australia, Australia, 24 February 1921
Home Town:	West Croydon, Charles Sturt, South Australia
Schooling:	Woodville District High School, Woodville, South Australia
Occupation:	Clerk
Died:	Died whilst a prisoner of the Japanese (killed in air raid), Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, 5 March 1944, aged 23 years
Cemetery:	Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea (CWGC) Grave Reference Location ~ Plot E, Row C, Collective Grave 5-11. Personal Inscription ~ "HIS DUTY NOBLY DONE... EVER REMEMBERED".
Memorials:	Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial

World War 2 Service

8 Nov 1941:	Involvement Flight Sergeant, 417011
8 Nov 1941:	Enlisted Adelaide, SA
8 Nov 1941:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 417011
26 Jul 1943:	Transferred Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, No. 22 Squadron (RAAF)
Date unknown:	Involvement

Help us honour Gordon Ronald Thomas's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Stephen Bonald

On 12 September 1943, Boston A28-15 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and ditched near Gasmata. The crew of three boarded a life raft uninjured but were never found despite extensive searches.

The South Australian crew members were:

·Flight Lieutenant Harry Blinman Dawkins (Pilot) PoW, Died 22 July 1944

·Sergeant Douglas George Semple (Wireless Air Gunner), Died 12 September 1943

·Sergeant Gordon Ronald Thomas (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW, Died 5 March 1944

Further investigation established they were prisoners of war and were reported to have been killed when allied air forces bombed the camp.Eight RAAF members killed in an air raid on Rabual on 5 March 1944 they include:

·Corporal John Fenwick (No. 11 Squadron)

· Flight Sergeant Donald Clarence Kirkwood (No. 30 Squadron)

·Sergeant Ernest Hubert Kraehe (No. 11 Squadron)

·Flight Sergeant Henry Laurence Murphy (No. 11 Squadron)

·Flying Officer Frank Ronald Pocknee (No. 11 Squadron)

·Flight Sergeant Gordon Ronald Thomas (No. 22 Squadron)

·Flight Sergeant Colin Esbert Wein (No. 30 Squadron)

·Sergeant Fred Woolley (No. 11 Squadron)

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