Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Mrs. J. Cruickshank, of Torphins, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The town of Ambon, situated on Laitimor Peninsula on the southern shore of Ambon Bay, was severely damaged during the war, first by the Japanese who bombed it heavily in January 1942 and later by the Allied forces who attacked it in 1943 and 1944. The Ambon Memorial was constructed on the site of a former prisoner of war camp, and commemorates 442 officers and men of the Australian forces who have no known grave. Of these, nearly 300 belonged to the Australian Army and over 150 to the Royal Australian Air Force; they lost their lives in Ambonia, in other islands of the Molucca group and in Celebes. Many of those commemorated here died in the defence of Ambonia in the early months of the war against Japan and others were killed in the Allied assault on Japanese air bases established on Ambonia and Celebes. A large number perished in Japanese prisoner of war camps.

There are five Australian soldier casualties of the Great War honoured on this memorial and also a Pilot Officer of the Royal Australian Air Force  who died in WWII.

They are:

Private WILLIAM BEWS,   493 31st Bn Australian Infantry 

Trooper JOHN WILLIAM  GAVIN, 1385 Australian Expeditionary Force, 9th Light Horse 

Private GEORGE GORDON, 1683 50th Bn Australian Infantry.

Lt Col JOHN ALEXANDER MILNE,  DSO 36th Bn Australian Expeditionary Force  

L/cpl JOHN THOMSON,  1273 Australian Army Medical Corps 15th Field Ambulance 

Pilot Officer WILLIAM GEORGE CRUICKSHANK, Royal Australian Air Force 

Kincardine O'Neil - Kincardine & Deeside District 
UKNIWM Ref No. 5854 

The people of Torphins decided to build a memorial hospital and it was named the Kincardine O'Neil Memorial Hospital. It is therefore possible that the names listed on this Kincardine O'Neil memorial are the same as those listed on the Torphins monument.

The Kincardine O'Neil war memorial is a rustic granite pillar with a pinkish hue set on a pedestal with an inverted sword carved in shallow relief on the face of the pillar. The pedestal is set into a rough cairn of tumbled boulders. The commemoration and names of the dead are listed on dressed granite tablets set into the face of the pedestal. 
The monument stands in gardens by the roadside of the A93 in the village.

Qantas Empire Airways Flying Boat G-AMUH “CORIO” was shot down by Japanese aircraft during a flight from Darwin to Koepang, Timor in the Netherlands East Indies

The aircrew (RAAF Reserve) that were killed are commemorated on the Ambon Memorial, Maluku, Indonesia (note: not on the WW2 nominal roll, no Personnel or Casualty files are held by the NAA) -

Pilot Officer Archibald Sloan Patterson (Radio Officer) 268075

Pilot Officer William George Cruickshank (Purser) 267534

Leading Aircraftman Sidney Charles Elphick (Steward) 301034

The RAAF personnel on board as passengers enroute to Timor are commemorated on the Northern Territory Memorial -

Sergeant James Charles McMillan 6544

Corporal Edward George Kerr 18607

Aircraftman William Oliver Beckett 43169

Aircraftman John Henry Holliday 403513

Aircraftman Gordon Charles Van Treight 8041

Aircraftman James De Pinna 60211

Aircraftman William Norman Lee 34535

Also killed:

Mister E. Cutfield of Sarawak (CWGC - Civilian War Dead)

Mister G. A. Farrelly of Sarawak (CWGC - Civilian War Dead)

RAN Paymaster Lieutenant David William McCulloch HMAS Leeuwin - commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in England

Survivors:

Captain Aubrey Albert Koch from Tasmania (Flying Boat Commander). Received a broken right leg and machine-gun bullet wounds in the left arm and left leg.  Evacuated to Darwin where he was caught up in the first Japanese raid on the town.

First Officer Victor Lyne - served in RAAF January 1938 - March 1941 - discharged as a Flying Officer from the Signals School

Passenger - Mister Frank Moore - Sarawak Civil Servant (Aged 32)

Passenger - Mister John Fisher - Sarawak Civil Servant (Aged 30)

Passenger - RAN Paymaster Lieutenant Bruce Lempriere Westbrook - discharged January 1946