LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Leslie Newman Samuel WRIGHT
Service No: 406158
Born: Fremantle WA, 16 March 1920
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 August 1940
Unit: No. 1 Service Flying Training School, Point Cook VIC
Died: Presumed Accidental Drowning, Port Phillip Bay VIC, 11 January 1941, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Samuel Norman and Irene Annie Wright, of Perth, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 7, Sydney Memorial, Rookwood NSW
Remembered: Panel 117, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
A service recreation dinghy was sailed from Point Cook at about 1430 hours on Saturday 11 January 1941. The dinghy was discovered at 0730 hours the next morning in a damaged condition at Seaholme. A Court of Inquiry recommended that the three RAAF members known to have sailed on the dinghy be posted as missing, presumed drowned. The bodies of two of the members were subsequently discovered. The three members were:
Leading Aircraftman Geoffrey Reginald Dean (408057)
Leading Aircraftman Harold Leslie Parry (406059)
Leading Aircraftman Leslie Newman Samuel Wright (406158)
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 Records A9301, 406158