LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Jack Garfield BEER
Service No: 10634
Born: Sale VIC, 27 April 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 June 1940
Unit: No. 3 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 3 Squadron Kittyhawk aircraft FV271), Sicily, 22 July 1943, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Stanley Frank Garfield Beer and Elisheba Beer; husband of Millicent June Beer, of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Ballarat VIC
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 22 July 1943, Kittyhawk FV271 flown by Flight Sergeant Beer was on a bombing and strafing raid on a road near the town of Nieosia, in central Sicily, about 35 miles west of Mt Etna. The road was fairly heavily packed with enemy motor vehicles. The formation met with some anti-aircxraft fire from heavy tanks in the area. The Squadron formation of 12 aircraft, bombed the road, and then carried out two separate strafing attacks. Flight Sergeant Beer’s aircraft was last seen by Flying Officer Mathews flying south and well inside the Allied line. Mathews called him on radio and asked if he was alright, and Beer replied ‘Yes’. However, FV271 failed to return from the mission and it was later learned that Flight Sergeant Beer had been killed.
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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/5/240