LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Alexander John CAIN
Service No: 406138
Born: Boulder WA, 8 December 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1940
Unit: No. 45 Squadron (RAF), Landing Ground 75, Egypt
Died: Air Operations: (No. 45 Squadron Blenheim aircraft C7510), Egypt-Libya Border area, 19 November 1941, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Harold and Annie Elizabeth Cain; husband of Phoebe Marshall Cain, of North Beach, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Column 245, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 119, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On 19 November 1941, six Blenheim aircraft of No. 45 Squadron including C7510, took off to carry out a cloud cover bombing raid on Sidi Rezegh aerodrome (Libya). Two aircraft including C 7510 failed to return. Four others reported unable to reach target on account of lack of cloud cover. In 1946 it was recorded that no trace of the missing crew could be found, and that the search had been abandoned.
The crew members of C7510 were:
Flying Officer Alexander John Cain (406138) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Eric Albert Magor (407329) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Scott MacLiver (406167) (Air Observer)
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, 163/25/98