LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer John Henry DUGAN
Service No: 411217
Born: Canowindra NSW, 17 October 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 April 1941
Unit: No. 7 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Oakington
Died: Air Operations: (No. 7 Squadron Lancaster aircraft JA850), France, 15 August 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Sassenay Churchyard, Saone-et-Loire, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George Alfred and Maude Dugan; husband of Heather Isabell Dugan, of Hamilton, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 121, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 2102 hours on the night of 14 August 1943 Lancaster JA850 took off from Oakington to bomb Milan, Italy. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Post war enquiries by a Missing Research and Enquiry unit established that the aircraft crashed at Sassenay (Soane-et-Loire), France, and all the crew members had been killed.
The crew members of JA850 were:
Pilot Officer Alfred Alexander Balcombe (J/18378) (RCAF) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Warrant Officer John Henry Dugan (411217) (Rear Gunner)
Flying Officer Kenneth Adrain Gough (123684) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator)
Flight Lieutenant Sidney George Matkin DFC (112440) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer James Warren O’Hara (J/17065) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer James Burges Paterson (155393) (RAFVR) (Bomb Aimer)
Flight Lieutenant Royston Charles Clifford Taylor (404426) (RNZAF) (Navigator)
Sergeant Alexander Whatmore (936166) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
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, 166/10/99