LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Cyril James WARD
Service No: 405702
Born: Ipswich QLD, 6 April 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 May 1941
Unit: Headquarters RAAF Station Port Moresby PNG
Died: Drowned, off Port Moresby, 21 June 1942, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Roy Courtenay and Ida Mary Ward, of Maryborough, Queensland
Roll of Honour: Maryborough QLD
Remembered: Panel 9, Port Moresby Memorial PNG
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 21 June 1942, Pilot Officer Ward, a Pilot, was a member of a RAAF party that set out in a skiff from Port Moresby wharf, to make a trip to Fisherman’s Island about seven miles away. On the return journey the sea became very rough, and when about 300 yards from the shore, the skiff turned on its side throwing the occupants into the water. Some of the group swam ashore, but both Pilot Officer Ward and Flight Lieutenant Charles Oswald Duffy (251682) were reported missing. Both have no known graves.
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, 163/63/155