Henry Laurence MURPHY

MURPHY, Henry Laurence

Service Number: 412621
Enlisted: 20 July 1941
Last Rank: Flight Sergeant
Last Unit: No. 11 Squadron (RAAF)
Born: Tumut, New South Wales, Australia, 13 August 1917
Home Town: Murrumburrah, Harden, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Prisoner of War, Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, 5 March 1944, aged 26 years
Cemetery: Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea
Section E Row C Collective Grave 5 to 11 , Bita Paka War Cemetery, Bita Paka, Rabaul, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Harden WW2 Memorial Wall
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Flight Sergeant, 412621
20 Jul 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 412621, No. 11 Squadron (RAAF)

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Biography contributed by David Barlow

11SQN RAAF Catalina A24-34 crash-landed in Jacquinot Bay, New Britain and all crew survived the landing.

Four members evaded capture and returned to Australia: Flying officer Ian Douglas Vaughan Ralfe 405501 / Flying officer Allan Bernard Liedl 426624 / Sergeant Richard Murray Howard 47149 / Sergeant Harold Francis Jones 71534  

Six crewmen were taken POW, but only Flight Lieutenant Brian Paul Stacy 406446 survived to be eventually repatriated

Squadron Leader John Evelyn Todd 271707 died in Rabaul of disease contracted as a POW - 22 July 1944

The other four were killed in an Allied bombing raid on Rabaul 5 March 1944: Sergeant Ernest Hubert Kraehe 27791 / Flight Sergeant Henry Laurence Murphy 412621 / Sergeant Fred Woolley 43098 / Flying Officer Frank Ronald Pocknee 401663

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