LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Jim Cunningham PAROISSIEN
Service No: 407801
Born: Mount Gambier SA, 31 December 1910
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 221 Squadron (RAF), RAF Luqa, Malta
Died: Air Operations (No. 221 Squadron Wellington aircraft AD593), Sicily, 28 April 1943, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Thomas and Bertha Sarah Paroissien; husband of Mabel Doreen Paroissien, of Largs Bay, South Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 11, Column 1, Malta Memorial, Malta
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
On 28 April 1943 Wellington AD593 of No. 221 Squadron was detailed to carry out a shipping strike 50 kms north north east of Ustica, Italy. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after it took off at 0055 hours, and it did not return to base. Following post war investigations, in a 1948 report it was recorded that “the aircraft was shot down and crashed into a cliff near Cape Bianco on 28 April 1943. On impact the aircraft exploded and burning wreckage was scattered over the beach. Only a few remains were recovered from the wreckage by local inhabitants who buried them on the beach. All efforts to recover the remains were unsuccessful and it was concluded that they were subsequently washed away by tides, and that the missing crew had no known grave.”
The crew members of AD593 were:
Sergeant Archibald William Brighurst (658114) (RAF) (Second Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Alan Lionel Keith (R/90509) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant George Lyle (1022822) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) Attached to No. 458 Squadron from No. 172 Squadron RAF
Pilot Officer Jim Cunningham Paroissien (407801) (Navigator)
Sergeant Archibald McColl Sutherland (1111507) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
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 A705, 166/32/88