LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Berte DEMPSEY
Service No: 409790
Born: Sydney NSW, 12 December 1912
Enlisted in the RAAF: 10 October 1941 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 8 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 8 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-376), Vivigani, New Guinea, 31 January 1944, Aged 31 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Timothy and Georgina Dempsey; husband of Audrey Dempsey, of St. Kilda, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 9, Port Moresby Memorial, PNG
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 29 April 1943, Flight Sergeant Dempsey survived the collision of Wirraway aircraft A20-98 and A20-176 in which Sergeant John Charles Weir Patrick (403816) was killed.
Beaufort A9-376 took off from Vivigani at 0505 hours on 31 January 1944 for a weather reconnaissance of the Solomons Sea. About 5 minutes later a gun position reported a flash and explosion in Moresby Strait. The aircraft failed to respond to radio calls and a search was commenced a first light. Wreckage from A9-376 was subsequently located about 15 kms east of Vivigani airfield.
The crew members of A9-376 were:
Flight Sergeant Berte Dempsey (409790) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Gilbert McKenzie Fleming (418375) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Leonard William Gooding (3319) (Warrant Officer Signals)
Flight Sergeant Donald Keith Stephenson (42836) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant William Arthur Sudholz (414274) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 254