Fred WOOLLEY

WOOLLEY, Fred

Service Number: 43098
Enlisted: 12 June 1941
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: No. 11 Squadron (RAAF)
Born: Darlaston, Borough of Walsell, England, 20 December 1912
Home Town: Chermside, Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Storeman
Died: Prisoner of War, Rabaul, New Britain, New Guinea, 5 March 1944, aged 31 years
Cemetery: Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea
Section E Row C Collective Grave 5 to 11 Roll of Honour: Chermside, Queensland, 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
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, 43098
12 Jun 1941: Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 43098, No. 11 Squadron (RAAF)
12 Jun 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 43098, No. 11 Squadron (RAAF)
12 Jul 1941: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 43098, No. 11 Squadron (RAAF), Brisbane, QLD, Australia
15 Feb 1942: Imprisoned

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

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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