LEST WE FORGET
Lieutenant John Rawden FETHERSTONE-HAUGH MID
Service No: VX20171 (Australian Army)
Born: Longwood VIC, 10 December 1910
Enlisted in the Army: 31 May 1940
Unit: No. 45 Air Liaison Section
Awarded the Mentioned in Despatches (MID)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 4 Squadron Wirraway aircraft A20-480), Wantoat area PNG, 15 April 1944, Aged 38 years
Buried: Lae War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Francis Percy and Eva Madeleine Fetherstonhaugh; husband of Cynthia Rosemary Fetherstonhaugh, of Coleraine, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Coleraine VIC
Remembered: Panel 16, Supplementary Panel 1, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0755 hours on 15 April 1944, Flight Lieutenant Unkles and Lieutenant Featherston-Haugh took off from Gusap Strip on an operational tactical reconnaissance flight over the Wantoat area, New Guinea. The aircraft failed to return and the crew was reported missing.
In December 1998 the aircraft was discovered and a team of RAAF members travelled to the site of the crash. After talking with local villagers it was found that one villager who had trekked to the site with other villagers and discovered the aircraft and the dead crew. The crew was then buried next to the aircraft on the hill where it crashed. After interviewing some of the villagers it was found that the pilot reportedly crashed while being chased by a Japanese A6M ‘Zero’. The crew were buried with full honours on 13 January 1999.
The crew members of A20-480 were:
Lieutenant John Rawden Fetherston-Haugh MID (VX20171) (Supernumerary) (45th Air Liaison Unit)
Flight Lieutenant Dennis John Unkles (408766) (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 B883, VX20171; A9845, 195
Bibliography:
Baker, N. (Nicola) More Than Little Heroes: Australian Army Air Liaison Officers in WWII, Australian National University Canberra ACT 2600, 1994