LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant James Eyval DUFF
Service No: 411130
Born: Corowa NSW, 27 September 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 April 1941
Unit: No. 70 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 70 Squadron Wellington aircraft HZ427), Sicily, 13 August 1943, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Syracuse War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Wlliam Alexander Duff and Alice Emma Duff, of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Wagga Wagga NSW
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Victory Memorial Gardens Cenotaph, Wagga Wagga NSW
Remembered: NSW Department of Education Teachers and Trainees WW2 Honour Roll, Sydney NSW
On the night of 12/13th August 1943 Wellington HZ427 was detailed to carry out a raid on the Messina Beaches, Sicily. Nothing was heard from the aircraft and it failed to return to base. At approximately 0039 hours the aircraft was seen to explode in the air over the Western Straits and crash in flames on land. It crashed in the vicinity of the village of Faro and all the crew members were killed.
The crew members of HZ427 were:
Flight Sergeant Stuart Bertram Billing (1382317) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant John Ronald Clark (RAF) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Walter Craig (J/18106) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Eyval Duff (411130) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant William Brownlie Gilchrist (1370571) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Charles Edward Prince (1379759) (RAFVR) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/10/98
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line