LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Kenneth Isaac DUFFIN
Service No: 402085
Born: Sydney NSW, 27 August 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 26 May 1940
Unit: No. 113 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 113 Squadron Blenheim aircraft V5641), off the Libyan Coast, 20 October 1941, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred William and Ada Irene Duffin, of Homebush, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Homebush NSW
Remembered: Column 246, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Strathfield World War 2 Roll Of Honour, Strathfield NSW
Remembered: Railway Remembrance Wall, Central Station, World War II Bronze Plaque, Haymarket NSW
On 21 May 1941 Sergeant Duffin survived the crash of No. 70 Operational Training Unit Blenheim L8481 in which Sergeant Ralph Kell Dowse (404136) was killed.
When returning from an operational raid, at 1000 hours on 20 October 1941 Blenheim V5641 was attacked by enemy fighters, and was shot down some 150 miles out to sea north of Gambut. In 1948 it was recorded that the missing crew members had lost their lives at sea.
The crew members of V5641 were:
Second Lieutenant E H Burr (103412V) (SAAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Kenneth Isaac Duffin (402085) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Christopher Lewis Jenkinson (40977) (RNZAF) (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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/103/85
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line