LEST WE FORGET
Sick Bay Attendant Alec HILL
Service No: F4084 (Royal Australian Navy)
Born: Perth WA, 6 January 1924
Enlisted in the RAN: 22 January 1942
Unit: HMAS Manoora
Died: Prisoner of War (Executed) (from the loss of No. 31 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A8-32 on 1 February 1945), Tomohon, Celebes, 19 June 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Cecil Arthur and Isabella Lindsay Frame Hill, of South Perth, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: South Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 4, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 1st February (1945), eight Beaufighters of No. 31 Squadron attacked a Japanese army personnel area at Tomohon (Sulawesi, Indonesia). This attack was carried out at about 12.40 p.m., the aircraft dropping depth-charges and 500-lb fragmentation clusters. The Japanese succeeded in shooting down a Beaufighter (A8-10) piloted by Flight Lieutenant Taylor with Flying Officer Packham as navigator. This aircraft was seen by the others to crash on a plateau about one mile south of the town and break up. Anti-aircraft fire was so fierce during the attack that the leader of the mission, Flight Lieutenant Provost (1), ordered the rest of the formation to rendezvous at a point some distance from the target from where course was set for base. Another Beaufighter (A8-32) in this attack was also lost. It was last seen heading over the target area but failed to return to base.
(1) Flight Lieutenant Ronald Ashton Provost (406060) was discharged from the RAAF on 1 July 1947
Odgers, G. (George) (VX127783) Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957 – Page 394
The crew members of A8-32 were:
Sick Bay Attendant Alec Hill (F4084) (RAN) (Supernumerary) PoW: Executed 19 June 1945
Pilot Officer William Roderick McGuigan (427717) (Pilot) PoW: Executed 19 June 1945
Flight Sergeant Alan Edward Lewis (431362) (Navigator)
The crew members of A8-10 were:
Flight Lieutenant Douglas Roy Taylor (416465) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Keith Packham (436776) (Navigator) PoW: Died 31 March 1945
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 51; A6770, HILL A
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990