Francis Edward MCFADZEAN

Francis Edward MCFADZEAN Update Details

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MCFADZEAN, Francis Edward

Service Number:	VX113110
Enlisted:	17 October 1942, Puckapunyal, Victoria
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion
Born:	Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia, 23 May 1923
Home Town:	Sale, Gippsland, Victoria
Schooling:	Unknown
Occupation:	Farm Labourer
Died:	Aircraft crash / explosion on takeoff, Near Jacksons Airfield, Port Moresby, New Guinea, 7 September 1943, aged 20 years
Cemetery:	Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Private, VX113110, 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion
17 Oct 1942:	Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, VX113110, 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion, Puckapunyal, Victoria
17 Oct 1942:	Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Private, VX113110, 2nd/33rd Infantry Battalion

Tragedy strikes 2nd/33rd Battalion while awaiting troop lift flight to Nadzab

The 2nd/33rd returned to Port Moresby in late July in preparation for the operations capture Lae, in New Guinea. On 7 September, while it waited near Jackson's Airfield at '7Mile' near Moresby to be flown to Nadzab, via Tsili Tsili, a fully fuelled and 'bombed up' US B-24 Liberator bomber crashed on take off among the trucks carrying the battalion. Sixty men, mainly from D Company, were killed and 92 injured. This represented a third of the battalion's fatal casualties for the entire war.

The remnants of the battalion were flown to Nadzab on 8 September and subsequently participated in the advance on Lae, which fell on 16 September.

Biography contributed by Elizabeth Allen

Francis Edward McFADZEAN was born in Deniliquin, New South Wales on 23rd May, 1923

His parents were David & Annie Elizabeth McFADZEAN

He enlisted in Puckapunyal, Victoria on 17th October, 1942

Francis died of injuries sustained in an aircraft crash near Jacksons Airfield in Port Moresby on 7th September, 1943 - he is buried in the Bomana War Cemetery

His brother Walter James McFADZEAN (SN VX21003) also lost his life during WW2 on 23rd January, 1942

Another brother Stanley David McFADZEAN (SN VX 100943) also served and was discharged in 1946

Virtual
War Memorial
Australia