Francis Lawrence HANN

HANN, Francis Lawrence

Service Number: 411448
Enlisted: 28 April 1941
Last Rank: Flying Officer
Last Unit: No. 80 Squadron (RAAF)
Born: Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 25 November 1919
Home Town: Newcastle, Hunter Region, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Prisoner of War - Executed by the Japanese, Talaud Islands, Netherlands East Indies, 23 March 1945, aged 25 years
Cemetery: Ambon War Cemetery, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Flying Officer, 411448
28 Apr 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force
28 Apr 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 411448
13 Jan 1945: Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 411448, No. 80 Squadron (RAAF), Air War SE Asia 1941-45

Help us honour Francis Lawrence Hann's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by David Barlow

During a ferry flight from Noemfoor Island to Morotai Island on the 13th of January 1945 four Kittyhawk aircraft from Number 80 Squadron RAAF ditched into the sea near Karakelang and Maroh Islands in the Japanese-held Talaud Islands group

Flight Sergeant Ronald Wilford Parry 434265 in Kittyhawk A29-668 was not located and he is commemorated on the Ambon Memorial

The other three pilots were captured by the Japanese and made prisoners of war (POW); they were executed on 23 March 1945 at Beo in the Talaud Islands - Flight Sergeant Leon Newman King 434344 (A29-653), Warrant Officer Peter Waters 410186 (A29-630) and Flying Officer Francis Lawrence Hann 411448 (A29-508)

Following a war crimes trial in 1946 seven Japanese officers were sentenced to death for complicity in the murders of the three men

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