LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Douglas CROOT
Service No: 415020
Born: Tallangatta VIC, 2 March 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 23 June 1941 (at Perth WA)
Unit: No. 36 Squadron, Essendon VIC
Died: Aircraft Accident: (Douglas C47 aircraft registration VH-CFM), near Bofu, New Guinea, 5 November 1942, Aged 24 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Henry and Florence A. Croot, of Canna, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Morawa WA
Remembered: Panel 103, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
At 0050Z hours on 5 November 1942, Douglas C47 VH-CFM took off from Wards Strip at Port Moresby together with two other Dakotas to carry out a supply drop mission to Bofu with stores for the US Army 32nd Division. Pilots of the other aircraft on their return stated that Douglas VH-CFM crashed into a hillside after making one run over Bofu. 32nd Division advised that all the eight on board had been killed in the crash.
The crew members of VH-CFM were:
Sergeant Douglas Croot (415020) (Co-Pilot)
Sergeant Jack J Deoniert (17019533) (US Army) (Engineer)
Second Lieutenant Harold Brantley Majure (O-789731) (US Army) (Pilot)
Technical Sergeant Clifford D Stevens (6944185) (US Army) (Radio Operator)
also on board and killed were US Army 126th Infantry Battalion members:
Captain Harland C Andrews (O-369941)
Private Stanley C Davis (20634246)
Private Kenneth W Horrocks (20635362)
Colonel Lawrence A Quinn (O-5439)
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 Record A705, 163/98/763