LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Walter James McKERRACHER DFM
Service No: 406099
Born: Mitcham Surrey England, 5 November 1909
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 July 1940 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 45 Squadron (RAF), Yelahanka, India
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM), 13 November 1942 (Citation Title: No. 113 Squadron RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 45 Squadron Mosquito aircraft HP939), India, 13 May 1944, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Madras War Cemetery, Chennai, India
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter and Alice Maud Gertrude McKerracher, of Cottesloe, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
Two of the outstanding Australian pilots in the Burma-India theatre were, in 1944, commanders of Mosquito squadrons. One of them, Wing Commander Harley Charles Stumm DFC (70656) (RAF), who commanded No. 45 Squadron, was killed on 13th May 1944, during the conversion of his Squadron from Vengeance to Mosquito aircraft. His companion, Flight Lieutenant Walter James McKerracher DFM (406099) was also killed.
Odgers, G. (George) (VX127783) Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957 – Page 417
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 A9300, McKERRACHER W J