LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Nelson Lorin MYERS
Service No: 413088
Born: West Tamworth NSW, 8 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1941
Unit: No. 242 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 242 Squadron Spitfire aircraft MH994), off Marseilles, 13 August 1944, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Mrs. Henrietta Jane Myers, of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 16, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall, Sandgate NSW
At 0945 hours on 13 August 1944 Flight Lieutenant Myers took off in MH994 from Calenzana airfield together with nine other aircraft of No. 242 Squadron to strafe a radar installation at Cape Couronne near Marseilles immediately prior to the invasion of Southern France. The target area was reached at 1050 hours. Very intense heavy and extra intense light anti-aircraft fire was encountered on nearing the target. Flight Lieutenant Myers went in at low level to attack the target and was hit and the aircraft was seen to be emitting black smoke. When last seen he had climbed to about 600 feet, was heard on radio to say he had to bale out. He did not bale out and the aircraft dived into the sea at an angle. Myers was not seen to leave the aircraft and he was believed to have been killed instantly. In 1949 it was recorded that Flight Lieutenant Myers had lost his life at sea.
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, 166/28/375
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line