Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Reg Hunter was born in Western Australia in 1918. He was the son of Charles and Margaret Hunter. Reg was educated by the Christian Brothers at CBC Fremantle.  

He completed his Junior Certificate in 1933 but aspired to work as a Radio Operator. He may have tried the Merchant Marine as Fremantle is a Port but he had no qualifications or experience. 

Reg got a job as a salesman while studied for his AOCP Exam. He passed his exams in mid 1939 and was issued with a Amature Radio Operators Licence to transmit and receive.   

When war was declared, Reg applied to join the RAAF as a Radio Operator. He did well on his trade test and was enlisted on 16 Jan 1940. Reg passed his RAAF Radio Operators course with distinction. He was then trained as an Air Gunner. Reg posted to No 13 Sqn as an RAAF Lockheed Hudson Bomber WOAG.

SGT Reg Hunter deployed to Ambon with No 13 (City of Darwin) Sqn on 14 Dec 1941. This was only a week after Imperial Japan entered the Pacific War. 

SGT Reg Hunter was posted MIA on 12 Jan 1942. He was serving as a WOAG in A16-7, an RAAF Lockheed Hudson Mk1 Bomber. They were on an anti shipping strike mission when intercepted by A6M Zeros and shot down. His entire A16-7 RAAF Hudson crew were posted MIA. Three other RAAF Hudson Bombers were shot down in separate waves on that strike mission. 

It was not until after hostilities had ended that RAAF investigators were able to conduct searches for missing RAAF Aircrew. For these aircrews were posted MIA in former enemy occupated areas.

Natives in a village near what was the strike mission target in the Celebes N.E.I. (now Sulawesi in Indonesia) took RAAF investgators to a wreck site.

A16-7 was found on 22 Oct 1945. The crew had been buried in 1942 in a common grave in a local native cemetery. 

A16-7 crashed trailing smoke after an air battle. It crashed near Ranowanko Village in the Tondano District of the Celebes according to eye witnesses.  

The Dutch Commander had been notified in early 1942 but he was soon imprisoned by the Imperial Japanese Forces. Several RAAF identity discs that natives had passed to the Dutch Commander were confiscated by the Imperial Japanese Forces. These items were not recovered.

The Dutch Commander, a MAJOR Schillmoler survived captivity, as per Aircrew Remembered. When interviewed post war by the RAAF, he recalled correct I.D. surnames names of two members from the A16-7 crew, including A16-7 RAAF Hudson Pilot.  

Hence the War Graves Commission accepted that the four bodies recovered from the A16-7 wreckage which natives buried in a common grave were in fact the A16-7 crew.

For the Village Chief who had buried the crew recalled some names in pigeon english. More detailed forensic analysis of the mixed up and burnt A16-7 crew remains was not possible with 1945 technology.

The RAAF A16-7 Hudson crew including SGT Reg Hunter were exhumed and reburied in a common grave in the Ambon War Cemetery in 1946.   

There was one survivor from the three other RAAF Hudson Bomber crews shot down on that 12 Jan 1942 strike mission. The 2nd Pilot on A16-46 survived to be taken POW. It took 407715 P/O Ted Howard sixteen hours to swim to shore after bailing out at sea when the A16-46 was in flames. Ted became a POW when N.E.I Dutch Forces surrerendered.  

His A16-46 crew mates were all presumed to have drowned. All remaining A16-46, A16-67 and A16-12 Hudson Bomber aircrew members on that 1942 strike mission remain MIA presumed dead.

The families of the A16-7 Hudson Bomber crew were lucky that the remains of their loved ones were found because of the care of native civilians who witnessed the air battle. Lest We Forget.  

References cited:

Aircrew Remembered: No 13 Sqn RAAF Lockheed Hudson A16-7.

ADF Serials A16-7 RAAF Lockheed Hudson Mk 1. 

NAA 5978 RAAF WW2 Service File.