LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Les William Higgs CONNOR
Service No: 400526
Born: North Fitzroy VIC, 25 June 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 15 September 1940
Unit: No. 45 Squadron (RAF), Magwe, Burma (Myanmar)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 45 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z7899), Myanmar, 14 March 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of George William and Lilian Anne Catherine Connor, of Middle Brighton, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brighton VIC
Remembered: Column 422, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 120, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 14 March 1942, Blenheim Z7899 from No. 45 Squadron was detailed to carry out a low level offensive recce of the Lower Irrawaddy – Mingaladon – Himawbi Road area, Burma. The aircraft took off from Magwe aerodrome at approximately 1530 hours but did not return to base. The following day one aircraft went out on a search, but owing to low cloud and general weather conditions being bad, they found no trace of the missing aircraft or crew. In 1953 following searches by the British Far Eastern Graves Service, it was reported that “the aircraft crashed in the Lower Irrawaddy area of southern Burma about half a mile from the Mingaladon – Hmawbi road. The aircraft exploded on impact and all three crew members would have been killed instantaneously. Their bodies were thrown from the aircraft and later cremated by the local villagers who witnessed the crash and gave the information to the search party”. All crew members are recorded as missing with no known grave.
The crew members of Z7899 were:
Sergeant Les William Higgs Connor (400526) (Observer)
Pilot Officer John Jerram Eden (407496) (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Lance Sydney Powell (404656) (Pilot)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/98/471