Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lake Terrace Cemetery-War Graves-423520 LDG. Aircraftman, G D Abbott, Royal Australian Air Force, 27 May 1943, age 20. ‘In his young eyes a sudden glory shone’
Geoffrey David Abbott was born on 5 September 1922, the only child of David and Lillian Abbott. They lived in Ashbury, an inner-west suburb of Sydney.
He first enlisted in the Australian Army on 29 October 1941. Four months earlier his father had passed away at the age of 47 years.
In July 1942 Geoffrey left the Army and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. He was transferred to the No 2 Air Observers School at Mount Gambier with the rank of Leading Aircraftman.
On the night of 27 May 1943, Geoffrey was taking part in a navigation exercise on board an Anson R9886 aircraft near Port MacDonnell. At 1920 hours the pilot felt faint and warned the crew to prepare to bail out. Geoffrey misunderstood the instructions and rushed to the rear door and bailed out before anyone could stop him. The wind carried his parachute out to sea. The pilot recovered and landed the plane safely. Search parties went out in lifeboats looking for Geoffrey. His body was found at 0930 the next morning about one mile south-west of Port MacDonnell. He appeared to have landed safely in the water and detached himself from his parachute but had drowned during the night.
His funeral was held on Sunday 30 May 1943. After a service at Christ Church the procession made its way to Lake Terrace Cemetery.
Leading Aircraftman Geoffrey David Abbott was the first to be buried in the War Graves section of the cemetery.
One memorial notice from The Sydney Morning Herald read- ABBOTT, Treasured memories of Geoff, RAAF, my dearly loved only child, died May 27, 1943. Till we meet again. Mother.
His mother Lillian passed away in 1978 at the age of 80 years.
The 2 Air Observers School at Mount Gambier lost 23 airmen who were killed in fatal accidents during 1941 to 1944.