LEST WE FORGET
Corporal Roy Ernest ANDREWS
Service No: 18533
Born: Portland VIC, 25 March 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 18 September 1940
Unit: No. 2 Squadron, Timor
Died: Illness (Malaria): Timor, 13 April 1942, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Ernest and Myrtle Elizabeth Andrews, of Portland, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Corporal Andrews was in a party of RAAF members who volunteered to be left behind on Timor on 19 February 1942 when No. 2 Squadron was forced to withdraw its Hudson aircraft to Darwin in the face over the Japanese advance to Timor. The party was evading the advancing Japanese forces and travelling to the north coast for an expected rescue by the flying boats. Those flying boats were destroyed during the Japanese air raid on Broome WA on 3 March 1942; however the majority of the No. 2 Squadron volunteers were in a party of 29 Australian servicemen evacuated by the submarine USS Searaven and landed in Fremantle WA on 26 April 1942.
During their evasion, the party was joined by two No. 2 Squadron pilots – Flight Lieutenant Harold Cook (280229) and Flying Officer Vivian Charles Leithhead (406858) – who had been shot down on 13 April 1942 in Hudson A16-159 and had been forced to leave in Timorese care their seriously injured Wireless Air Gunners – Sergeant Herbert Frederick Hearle (406758) and Sergeant William Douglas Witham (404761) – who were subsequently captured and executed by the Japanese on 8 May 1942.
The evasion party members who lost their lives were:
Corporal Roy Ernest Andrews (18533) Died (Illness): 13 April 1942
Private Clement Clements (TX4036) Died (Illness): 8 April 1942
Aircraftman James Albert Graham (35933) Died (Illness): 2 April 1942
Flying Officer Peter Horwood Arthur Thompson (400845) Died (Illness): 31 March 1942
The Australian servicemen who were rescued by the USS Searaven and landed at Fremantle on 26 April 1942 were:
Aircraftman Arthur Ackerman (20604) Discharged: 4 January 1946
Flying Officer William Selby Arthur (262122) Discharged: 11 December 1945
Corporal Ron Ronald Jellicoe Bell (18349) Discharged: 6 March 1946
Flying Officer Frederick George Birchall (252031) (RAAF Station Darwin) Killed on Ground Operations: 17 April 1946
Leading Aircraftman Leslie Roy Borgelt BEM (12801) Discharged: 18 June 1946
Aircraftman Leonard Frederick Bourke (35121) Discharged: 19 November 1945
Lieutenant Alan Bruce Keith Bridge RAN Discharged: 27 August 1942
Flying Officer Arthur Francis Cole MBE (261733) Discharged: 22 June 1954
Flight Lieutenant Harold Cook (280229) Discharged: 26 December 1944
Sergeant Robert William Donald (10397) Discharged: 21 November 1945
Aircraftman George William Ettridge (29688) Discharged: 21 December 1945
Pilot Officer Kenneth Richard Greaves (253327) Discharged: Date unavailable
Leading Aircraftman Charles Frankin Gibbs (19259) Discharged: 22 January 1946
Leading Aircraftman Frederick Walter Grigg (20701) Discharged: 4 July 1946
Corporal Vernon Robert Cornelius Henrickson (6448) Discharged: 6 February 1946
Leading Aircraftman Ralph Geoffrey Holloway (11093) Discharged: 5 February 1948
Corporal Colin Bray Humphris (5170) Discharged: 26 March 1945
Aircraftman Phillip John Kean (24508) Discharged: 14 April 1948
Flying Officer Vivian Charles Leithhead (406858) Killed on Air Operations: 21 August 1943
Corporal Robert Lloyd (14576) Discharged: 23 January 1946
Aircraftman Francis Joseph Meeking (13374) Discharged: 7 December 1945
Corporal Edward Ernest Mitchell (9169) Discharged: 1 November 1945
Aircraftman Robert Wallace Oliver (27996) Discharged: 15 February 1943
Leading Aircraftman Clyde Wilfred Pappin (27530) Discharged: 31 January 1946
Leading Aircraftman Edmund Charles Park (10440) Discharged: 14 December 1945
Flight Lieutenant Bryan Rofe MBE (282539) Discharged: 19 June 1946
Aircraftman Francis Frederick Rusconi (A2205) Discharged: 26 September 1965
Leading Aircraftman William Smith (12629) Discharged: 4 March 1946
Sergeant James Percival Sumner (3525) Discharged: 7 March 1946
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
Gillison, D.N. (Douglas Napier) (254475) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – Pages 421-3
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/87/179
Bibliography:
Bennett, J. (John William) Highest Traditions: the history of No. 2 Squadron RAAF, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1995
RAAF Directorate of Public Relations, Victory Roll, Australian War Memorial Canberra, 1945 – Chapter: Return to Timor
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Anson, Hudson and Sunderland in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992