LEST WE FORGET
Lieutenant Horace William Hammond ARMSTRONG
Service No: WX10534 (Australian Army)
Born: York WA, 8 January 1911
Enlisted in the Army: 21 December 1940
Unit: No. 157 General Transport Company (AASC)
Died: Aircraft Accident (Netherlands East Indies Air Force C47A aircraft DT9-41), off Cairns QLD, 7 September 1944, Aged 32 Years
Buried: Cairns Cemetery QLD
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Harry George and Alice Jane Armstrong, husband of Dorothy May Armstrong, of Victoria Park, Western Australia
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 79, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
On 7 September 1944, Lieutenant Armstrong was a passenger on NEI Air Force aircraft DT9-41 on a travel flight from Merauke, Dutch New Guinea to Cairns, but the aircraft failed to arrive. It had signalled that the weather was very bad and last bearing on the aircraft was nine miles from Cairns. Searches were carried out for the missing aircraft but were unsuccessful. The aircraft wreckage was found in January 1989, 73 km northwest of Cairns Airport.
On board DT9-41 were:
Crew
Flight Lieutenant Hermanus Jan Hendrik Daanen (RNetherlandsAF) (Pilot)
Sergeant Jacques Francois Damwijk (96914) (RNetherlandsAF) (Flight Engineer)
Sergeant Telegraphist Eugene Kerdijk (71322) (RNetherlandsAF) (Wireless Operator)
Sergeant Major (Administrative) Willen Adrianus Torn (96774) (RNetherlandsAF) (Second Pilot)
Passengers
Lieutenant Horace William Hammond Armstrong (WX10534) (Australian Army Service Corps)
Second Lieutenant Robert Evert Johan Boereboom (13620) (Netherlands Army)
Sergeant Marinus Boogerman (90510) (RNetherlandsN)
Flight Lieutenant Rudolph Theodoor Braakensiek (134821) (RNetherlandsAF)
Squadron Leslie Roy Dawson (260968) (RAAF Headquarters)
Second Lieutenant Samuel Jacob (Netherlands Army)
Lieutenant Joseph Remy Louis Lebuea (RNetherlandsN)
Flight Lieutenant Hendrik Piet Levy (8767) (RNetherlandsAF)
Flight Lieutenant Otto Leyding (105120) (RNetherlandsAF)
Flight Lieutenant Robert Jan Salm (51722) (RNetherlandsAF)
Flight Sergeant Abraham Constantijn Scholte (36520) (RNetherlandsAF)
Sergeant Machinist Marrtinus Johannes Straub (8872) (RNetherlandsN)
Flight Lieutenant Bernard Van Aken (13620) (RNetherlandsAF)
Mrs Waas (Netherlands Civilian)
Mrs Wakemau (Netherlands Civilian)
Flight Lieutenant Jan Simon Zwart (RNetherlandsAF)
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 B883, WX10534