LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Anthony MURPHY
Service No: 427394
Born: Manjimup, 8 July 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 July 1942
Unit: No. 640 Squadron (RAF), RAF Station Leconfield, Yorkshire
Died: Air Operations (No. 640 Squadron Halifax aircraft LW506), Germany, 28 April 1944, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas and Mary Teresa Murphy, of Subiaco, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Remembered: Honour Avenues, Kings Park WA
At 2343 hours on the night of the 27 April 1944, Halifax LW506 took off from RAF Leconfield detailed to attack the railway yards at Montzen. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Dinteloord in the Dutch Province of Noord-Brabant, 6 kms north north east of Steenbergen. All the crew members were killed and they are buried in the Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery.
The crew members of LW506 were:
Pilot Officer Reginald Earnshaw (172946) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Charles Arthur Hensey (1605140) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant William Mabon (1496442) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Anthony Murphy (427394) (Mid Upper Gunner)
Sergeant William Alfred Pullen (924992) (RAFVR) (Rear Gunner)
Pilot Officer John Riordan (176158) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Sergeant Roger John Sampson (1515480) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 427394