LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Walter John NAGEL
Service No: 406460
Born: Perth WA, 15 September 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 December 1940
Unit: No. 13 Squadron, Laha
Died: Air Operations (No. 13 Squadron Hudson aircraft A16-69), Netherlands East Indies, 10 December 1941, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Walter and Mary Forrest Nagel, of Perth, Western Australia; husband of Joan A. E. Nagel, of Mount Lawley, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Kings Park WA
Remembered: Column 10, Ambon Memorial, Indonesia
Remembered: Panel 100, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Orders for the first air strike by an Australian squadron in the Netherlands East Indies against an enemy land target were given on 10th December to No. 13 Squadron’s two flights based at Laha—a bombing raid on Tobi Island, the westernmost point in the Japanese mandated area, about 170 miles east of Morotai Island in the Halmaheras. Photographic reconnaissance had indicated that the Japanese were developing the island as a submarine base and there was the added probability that the enemy might use it as a base for air attacks against Allied shipping. At 5.45 a.m. the six Hudsons took off. Almost immediately the leading aircraft, piloted by the squadron commander, Wing Commander McDonald, crashed into the sea. There were no survivors.
Extract from Gillison, D.N. (Douglas Napier) (254475) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – Page 242
The crew members of A16-69 were:
Sergeant Wallace Roy Foreman (400173) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Wing Commander Joshua Roger Gray McDonald (86) (Pilot)
Sergeant Walter John Nagel (406460) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Ralph Henry Pope (829) (Second Pilot)
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 A9845, 135
Bibliography:
Grantham, S.R. (Sidney Richard) (6590) The 13 Squadron Story, S.R. Grantham, Dee Why NSW 2099, 1991
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992