LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Algie John BOURKE
Service No: 37323
Born: Sydney NSW, 13 February 1904
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 June 1941
Unit: No. 15 Repair and Salvage Unit
Died: Ground Accident, Ward’s Strip PNG, 22 November 1942, Aged 38 Years
Buried: Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Joseph and Gertrude Marion Bourke; husband of Selina Ann Bourke, of Stockton, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Stockton NSW
Remembered: Panel 113, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 22 November 1942, Leading Aircraftman Bourke, a Guard was killed, when along with 20 others, he was assisting moving a crashed Beaufighter aircraft with a damaged undercarriage on Ward Strip, Port Moresby. The undercarriage collapsed and Leading Aircraftman Bourke was pinned between the engine cowling and the wheel and died almost immediately.
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, 163/93/802