LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Walter Charles KIDNEY
Service No: 433003
Born: Annandale NSW, 18 March 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 February 1943
Unit: No. 4 School of Technical Training (RAF)
Died: Ground Accident, RAF Station Athan, Wales, 24 June 1945, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Llantwit Major Cemetery, Glamorganshire, Wales
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter Charles and Vera Ethel Kidney, of Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Woollahra NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Double Bay War Memorial, Double Bay NSW
On 24 June 1945, Sergeant Kidney, a Pilot, met his death as the result of a blow or blows received during fights, which he himself started, and in which he participated outside No. 3 Sergeants Mess at RAF Station Athan, Glamorganshire. A Coroner’s Inquest found that: “it appeared that Kidney and other airmen had consumed a fair amount of liquor during the evening, and that Kidney started the fight, using a remark made by the New Zealand member as a pretext.”
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, 166/22/533
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line