LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Percy John LANCASTER
Service No: 56456
Born: Watford, England, 19 February 1907
Enlisted in the RAAF: 25 May 1942 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 3 Airfield Construction Squadron, Darwin NT
Died: Injuries from a Ground Accident, Gould Airstrip NT, 7 July 1943, Aged 36 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John and Doris Lancaster; husband of Lorna Mabel Lancaster, of Eldorado, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Eldorado VIC
Remembered: Panel 114, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At Gould Airstrip on 7 July 1943, a party of four airmen was engaged in pulling down trees by means of a steel cable attached to two caterpillar tractors. After a tree had been pulled down, Leading Aircraftman Lancaster, a Driver Motor Transport, attempted to drive a tractor across a fallen tree lying directly in his path. He failed to do this and the tractor fell backwards pinning him underneath and he died from his injuries.
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, 166/24/129