LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Ronald David ANTHONY
Service No: 422529
Born: Paddington NSW, 11 September 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 179 Squadron (RAF), Gibraltar
Died: Air Operations (No. 179 Squadron Wellington aircraft HF194), off the Iberian Atlantic Coast, 17 January 1944 Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William and Eliza Johanna Anthony, of Meadow Bank, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 16, Column 2, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 118, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wellington HF194 of No. 179 Squadron took off from RAF Station North Front, Gibraltar, on the evening of 16 January 1944, to carry out an anti-submarine patrol in the vicinity of Cape St Vincent. The aircraft was due back at 0800 hours the next day, but it did not return to base.
Extensive searches were carried out but no trace of the missing aircraft or crew were found. This was the first operational trip for the newly formed crew.
The crew members of HF194 were:
Flight Sergeant Thomas Mervyn Andersen (425577) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Ronald David Anthony (422529) (Wireless Air Gunner
Flight Sergeant Peter William Hedley Crickmay (R/151913) (RCAF) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Sydney Ross Hore (416856) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant George Alphonsus McGilvray (420980) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer William Yule McNeil (J/19838) (RCAF) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/3/166