LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Alan Wesley HAIN
Service No: 406847
Born: Katanning WA, 26 November 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 April 1941
Unit: No. 681 Squadron (RAF), Dum Dum, India
Died: Air Operations: (No. 681 Squadron Spitfire aircraft AA793), Myanmar, 28 September 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Wesley Hain and Florence Jane Hain, of Kojonup, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Kojonup WA
Remembered: Column 430, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
At 0700 hours on 28 September 1943 Spitfire AA793 took off from Dum Dum aerodrome, India, on an operational flight and en route landed at Chittagong at 0800 hours to refuel. It left Chittagong again at 1200 hours to carry out a photo reconnaissance over Burma. At 1215 hours a plot of AA793 was recorded, but that was the last plot received.
It was later reported that an unidentified aircraft had crashed and exploded on 28 September between 1200 and 1300 hours on the east bank of the Kaladan River. In 1945 it was reported that the wreckage of AA793 had been located half buried in the ground and that the remains of Flight Sergeant Hain had been identified but no burial details had been given. Later search parties in the area reported that recovery and burial of the remains was impractical and Flight Sergeant Hain is recorded as missing on the Singapore Memorial.
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/17/326