LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Milton John CORNISH
Service No: 8166
Born: Fremantle WA, 7 May 1905
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 January 1940 (at RAAF Station Laverton VIC)
Unit: No. 1 Squadron, Java (taken Prisoner of War, Java, March 1942)
Died: Prisoner of War (Malnutrition): Thailand, 30 December 1943, Aged 38 Years
Buried: Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Myanmar
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Edward and Edith Sarah Cornish, of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: Melbourne VIC
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
A total of 120 members of No 1 Squadron had been sent back to Australia. Luck was against those who went to Tjilatjap (Java); on the 5th (March 1942) the port was blasted by enemy bombers and all the ships in the harbour were sunk. There thus remained in Java 160 officers and airmen of the squadron. A plan for their evacuation by flying-boat had been made. In keeping with this plan the party now waited at the rendezvous, a beach on the south coast near Pameungpeuk. As they waited the hours lengthened into days and their anxiety changed into resignation. The flying-boats never came. The whole party, including their always resolute commanding officer, Wing Commander Davis, became prisoners. As he had led them through the stress of the Malayan, the Sumatran and the Javan campaigns, so now Davis still led them as they submitted to the bitterness of captivity.
Extract from Gillison, D. (Douglas) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – page 444
The flying boats that never came were those destroyed during the Japanese air raid on Broome WA on 4 March 1942.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
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, 163/98/473