Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

https://docplayer.net/57197404-77-squadron-raf-raaf-airmen-killed-whilst-on-active-service-with-77-squadron-raf-world-war-ii.html

Lockheed Hudson Mk IIIA, tail number A16-201 of No. 32 Squadron RAAF was on a solo armed reconnaissance mission over the beach head at Buna, scene of Japanese amphibious landings on 22 July 1942 as a precursor to the Kokoda campaign. The crew were: Pilot / Aircraft Captain: Pilot Officer Warren Cowan, 31 years old from Angaston SA, was killed in action on 22 July 1942, along with his crew; Second Pilot / Navigator: Sergeant Russell Polack (/explore/people/643628), 24 of Summer Hill NSW Wireless Op / Air Gunner: Pilot Officer David Taylor (/explore/people/649251), 33, from Hobart Tasmania and Air Gunner: Sergeant Lauri Sheard (/explore/people/515235), 20, of Nuriootpa, SA. They died in a forlorn and lonely air combat against six Mitsubishi Zeros over New Guinea's northern beaches near Buna, the site of Japanese amphibious landings that were a prelude to the Kokoda campaign. What distinguishes this action from many like it in the early stages of Australia's war in the SW Pacific, is that an accurate account of what happened came from the other side. The crew of the Hudson gave a distinguished account of themselves, so much so that 55 years after the incident, one of the Japanese pilots, none other than top Japanese 'Ace' of the war, Saburo Sakai, who was one of the pilots involved in the destruction of this aircraft, lobbied the Australian Government to present Cowan with a posthumous award for his actions that day. Warren Cowan and his crew were on an armed reconnaissance mission launched from Port Moresby's Seven Mile Drome at 1130hrs, in response to the Japanese landings in the Buna Gona area. The aircraft they were flying had been assembled in Australia just three months before and delivered to No. 32 Squadron on 25 April 1942. They were looking for the destroyer escorts and the departing convoy heading back to Rabaul. Two hours after leaving Port Moresby, they reported they were 20 miles out to sea having flown over the north coast near Gona. Unreported by them but recorded by Japanese records it is fair to assume they did not locate the convoy and dropped their bomb load on Japanese positions at Buna on the return journey. Unfortunately they flew into the Japanese air defence net cast over the landing area. A total of 18 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros belonging to a detachment of the Tainan Naval Air Group were rostered in three 'Chutai' (squadrons) of six aircraft, organised in two flights of three aircraft each, to patrol the landing area from their base at Lae further up the coast. The pilots were all combat experienced and had most recently been engaged in raids on Port Moresby. Saburo Sakai was the flight leader of the second flight, of the third Chutai, each aircraft marked with blue stripes around the rear fuselage. The other Chutai were marked yellow and red respectively. Sasai Jun'ichi was No 1 Flight Commander, Ota Toshio and Endo Masuaki were his wingmen. Flying with Sakai were Yonekawa Masayoshi and Mogi Yoshio. Like Cowan, the Zeros failed to locate the convoy, but they did spot Cowan's Hudson, and his crew spotted them as was evident from his actions, which was basically to undertake a smooth descent to build up as much speed as they could, towards Milne Bay. The Zeros jettisoned their drop tanks and gave chase, sacrificing the increased range afforded by the lost fuel in exchange for speed to catch their quarry. Now it was just a matter of time, if Cowan adhered to the expected tactic of throttles to the firewall and attempting to gain maximum speed - which would not be enough to outpace the Zeros. He didn't. In a move that startled his pursuers, perhaps realising that his expected course of action was forlorn, Cowan stood the Hudson on its wingtip in a very steep turn presumably assisted by the application of 'asymmetric power', and turned to face his attackers as perhaps his only remotely viable option. He fired his nose guns as he sped through the Japanese formation which broke up as he did so. The Japanese pilots were not carrying radios due to technical difficulties with their sets and the Zero airframe and engine. They were however, disciplined and experienced pilots and they regained their formation and tried to position themselves to attack despite defensive fire from the Hudson's dorsal turret. According to Sakai, it was ten minutes or so, an age in aerial dogfighting, before the Zeros could land hits on the Hudson thanks to Cowan's desperate maneuvering to evade them. Eventually the Zeros successively took out the Hudson's dorsal turret then set fire to the port engine, moments before it rolled into the jungle below and exploded, near the village of Popogo. Cowan's actions impressed the Japanese pilots, but most ultimately became casualties themselves. Sasai Jun'ichi, the No 1 Flight Commander was lost just a month later in air combat with US Wildcat fighters over Guadalcanal. Sakai lost the sight in one eye but returned to flying late in the war as Japan's circumstances became dire. In 1997, 55 years after the event, the only surviving participant in this action, Saburo Sakai, wrote to the Australian Minister for Veterans Affairs, Hon Danna Vale, requesting that Cowan's bravery be recognised. The Minister thanked him for his submission but advised that, regrettably, the request could not be legally honoured because the 'End of War' list had closed in 1945 thus closing off the avenue for a posthumous award. This set of circumstances however makes for a unique anecdote in the history of the struggle in which Australia found itself in those dark days of 1942. As a footnote, the wreck of the Hudson and the remains of the crew were discovered in 1943 by a USAAF search team who had been told of the wreck by villagers while they were recovering the remains of the crew of a C-47 Dakota crew that had crashed near Popondetta. The Hudson wreck was near the village of Popogo. It was realised it was not American and a later team including Australians recovered the remains of the crew in early 1945, which were subsequently interred in the Lae War cemetery although they are now in the Port Moresby Bomana War Cemetery (CWGC records). Compiled by Steve Larkins Dec 2016 from the source cited below: Updated and corrected 30 Nov 25 Source: 'Outgunned and Outclassed' an article by Michael John Claringbold as published in 'Flightpath ' magazine Vol 28 No.2 Nov 2016-Jan 2017 Yaffa Media Pty Ltd Sydney

The Distinguished Service Cross was established by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by Act of July 25, 1963), 10 U.S.C. 3742. It is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the Army, distinguishes himself or herself by extraordinary heroism not justifying the award of a Medal of Honor while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing Armed Force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The act or acts of heroism must have been so notable and have involved risk of life so extraordinary as to set the individual apart from his comrades.1 BRADY, Lieutenant Vincent John Joseph https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/157604 13th Australian Field Artillery Brigade, AIF CADDY, Sergeant Thomas Ernest https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/195256 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF  ERRINGTON, Sergeant Arthur https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/378599 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF  HILL, Lieutenant John Holroyd https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/169086 50th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF  MORISSET, Captain Vaux Liddiard https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/201762 31st Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF  PADGETT, Lance-Corporal John Rush https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/368177 44th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF PARKES, Private Thomas https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/322194 55th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF RODAKIS, Sergeant Nicholas https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/164392 4th Australian Machine Gun Company, AIF TREWARN, Private Frederick https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/171715 5th Machine Gun Battalion, AIF  1    Title 32 - National Defense. Subtitle A - Department of Defense (Continued). Chapter V - Department Of The Army. Subchapter F - Personnel. Part 578 - Decorations, Medals, Ribbons, And Similar Devices. - General.  

Left: Bill Evans, a wireless operator and air gunner in D-Day Right: Bill Purdy, pilot with RAAF's 463 Squadron

Arthur Harris: School cadets, Burra School, South Australia, 1907/8. Arthur Harris is seated second from right in the middle row. Service in school cadets was widespread in the colonies around the turn of the Century, and was a key component of the organisation of the Defence Force post Federation, following a review by Field Marshal Kitchener. They are armed with Martini-Henry .310 calibre 'Cadet' rifles. Photo: Harris family records

A No. 75 Squadron Kittyhawk at Milne Bay in September 1942

MOROTAI, HALMAHERA ISLANDS, NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. C. 1945-01. A CATCHY INSIGNIA ON THEIR AIRCRAFT IS EVOLVED BY MOST PILOTS AND 417413 SERGEANT TED QUINN, GUMERACHA, SA, A KITTYHAWK PILOT OF NO. 80 SQUADRON RAAF AT AN ADVANCED RAAF BASE IN THE SOUTH-WEST PACIFIC AREA IS PROUD OF "GINGER MEGGS" SITTING ON A BOMB PAINTED ON THE FUSELAGE OF HIS FIGHTER AIRCRAFT, NICKNAMED "47 US FELLAS".

Don Walch did indeed serve on 226 Sqn. He was 39236 S/L Graham Reese 'Digger' Magill's regular navigator. A snippet from Norman Frank's, "The Greatest Air Battle Dieppe, 19 August 1942 (p.40): "Magill got back safely although his machine (226 Sqn Boston III Z2295 MQ-A), was damaged. Not for the first time did the crest on his Boston get them Home. His usual crew was Pilot Officer Donald Walch, from Tasmania, as navigator, and 'Taffy' Gubbins, air gunner. (Gubbins was away on 19 August, his place being taken by Sergeant S Praeger). The crest consisted of a kangaroo, a kiwi and a welsh dragon on a boomerang, ensuring a return ticket, they hoped!"

https://pac.edu.au/field-of-remembrance-roll-of-honour/world-war-i-honour-roll/

https://pac.edu.au/field-of-remembrance-roll-of-honour/world-war-i-honour-roll/

Lauri Sheard's grave alongside his colleagues at Bomana War Cemetery Port Moresby Papua New Guinea.

https://www.458raafsquadron.org/honour-roll/servicemens-stories/wurrln

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134563729

https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136953102/view

https://lovedayinternmentcamp.au/#about

https://vwma.org.au/collections/home-page-stories/remembering-the-sandakan-prisoner-of-war-camp-and-death-marches

WGCDR_Colreavy__Coastal_Command_Memorial_Dedication_Speech.pdf

Family journey to have Oscar identified. When we heard in 2008 that an archeological dig had recovered the remains of 250 Australian and British servicemen at Pheasant Wood, the family was buoyed with hope that our ‘Uncle Oscar’ might at last have been found. Newspapers in South Australia reported with great anticipation that Oscar and several other soldiers from the State could be among those identified. I’m his great nephew, my grandmother Olga was Oscar’s older sister. And growing up, my generation of his descendants had assumed he might forever be buried somewhere as an ‘Unknown Soldier’. With great expectation a cousin and I registered on the Missing Servicemen Database. Along with more than one thousand other Australians, we became DNA donors. A descendant of Oscar’s brother Walter also gave DNA. In the first few years of the Army’s Fromelles Project, many soldiers were identified from the 250 sets of remains. Unfortunately for us, Oscar Baumann wasn’t among them. The years passed, and we had all but given up hope. Then in 2021 I was approached by an Adelaide journalist who told me he believed that Oscar and two other Australian soldiers were about to be identified. I contacted an officer of the Army’s Fromelles Project, who told me it was likely that Oscar Baumann was among those recovered, but in the absence of one hundred per cent certainty there could not be official identification. The Army needed more DNA information, so I sent them the family trees of Oscar’s siblings. The ’missing link’ turned out to be the daughter of Oscar’s youngest sister- a living niece in Adelaide by the name of Barbara Elsley. She gladly offered her DNA, and on Anzac Day of 2023 the Australian government announced that Oscar, along with five other soldiers of Fromelles, had been officially identified. Barbara was so captivated with events that at the age of 85 she travelled to France for the rededication ceremony at Fromelles on 19th July. She represented the family to unveil a new headstone bearing his name- Oscar was no longer an Unknown Soldier. Oscar’s new headstone notes ‘His Duty Nobly Done’, the words chosen by his parents in the death notice in 1916. His story is poignant given his heritage. Oscar’s father had emigrated from Germany only thirty-seven years before the outbreak of war. While some German immigrants in Australia were interned and others were ‘Anglicising’ their names, Oscar’s parents offered permission for his enlistment- only to have their son killed in action by a German enemy on the battlefields of France. Trevor Bormann 20/9/23

https://dambustersblog.com/2015/07/31/dambuster-of-the-day-no-122-lancelot-howard/?blogsub=spammed#subscribe-blog

https://dambustersblog.com/2015/07/31/dambuster-of-the-day-no-122-lancelot-howard/?blogsub=spammed#subscribe-blog