LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant John Charles McNAMARA
Service No: 406459
Born: Norwood SA, 26 May 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 December 1940 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 211 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Raid: Retreat from Burma, Burma (Myanmar), 25 February 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Rangoon War Cemetery, Myanmar
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lawrence John and Stella May McNamara, of Mount Hawthorn, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Sergeant McNamara (a Pilot) was killed on 25 February 1942 at Mingaladon, Burma, during an air raid. The remnants of No. 211 Squadron were being supported by No. 45 Squadron RAF which also operated Blenheim aircraft. The air raid destroyed 5 of No. 45 Squadron’s aircraft.
Sergeant J. C. McNamara, 406459, 211, 84 Squadrons RAF. Clerk; of Mount Hawthorn, WA; born Norwood, SA, 26 May 1916. Killed in air raid 25 February 1942. This pilot and his crew had already identified themselves among the Allied squadrons in Burma as “McNamara’s Circus”—the inscription on the nose of their aircraft. In their own unorthodox way they increased the fire-power of their Blenheim by throwing incendiary bombs through the camera hatch, a highly dangerous practice that typified their attitude to air combat.
Extract from Gillison, D.N. (Douglas Napier) (254475) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – Page 410
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 A9301, 406459