LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Reginald John Howard LEA
Service No: 402126
Born: Sydney NSW, 11 December 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 May 1940
Unit: No. 11 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No.11 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z5891), Beirut, 13 June 1941, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Beirut War Cemetery, Lebanon
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Howard Lea and Daisy Elizabeth Lea, of Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Darling Point NSW
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Strathfield World War II Roll of Honour, Strathfield NSW
Remembered: University of Sydney World War 2 Roll of Honour, Camperdown NSW
During air operations over Beirut on 13 June 1941 Blenheim Z5891 was shot down and destroyed. All the crew members were killed in the crash.
The crew members of Z5891 were:
Sergeant William Currie Ferguson (973780) (RAFVR)
Sergeant Anthony Seymour Frederick Jones (564875) (RAF)
Pilot Officer Reginald John Howard Lea (402126) (Pilot)
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, 163/42/53
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002