LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Laurence Alfred HIGGINS
Service No: 52700
Born: Ballarat VIC, 17 July 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 28 March 1942
Unit: No. 78 Squadron
Died: Ground Accident, Tadji PNG, 30 April 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Lae War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Alfred Ernest and Daisy Elizabeth Higgins, of Beaufort. Victoria
Roll of Honour: Beaufort VIC
Remembered: Panel 104, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 30 April 1944, Leading Aircraftman Higgins, a Flight Rigger was killed by a USAAF P38 during a forced landing at Tadji airstrip. The P38 aircraft crashed through the Kittyhawk parking lines, where Leading Aircraftman Higgins was seated on the wing of a Kittyhawk A29-405 piloted by Flight Sergeant William Henry Harnden (417366) (Killed: 3 June 1944). The aircraft had taxied into the parking area and was stationery.
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, 166/17/558