LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer Leslie Thomas FORSYTH
Service No: 418377
Born: Hawthorn VIC, 14 November 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 2 Squadron, Hughes NT
Died: Air Operations: (No. 2 Squadron Mitchell aircraft A47-33), Tanimbar Island, 20 December 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Robert Leslie Forsyth and Edith Isobel Forsyth, of Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Camberwell VIC
Remembered: Panel 98, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
At 0730 hours on 20 December 1944, Mitchell A47-33 took off detailed to carry out a ship reconnaissance to the east coast of Jamdena Island, then around the Kai islands and return to Hughes. Nothing was heard from the aircraft which failed to return to base. In 1946 the wreck of the aircraft and the remains of the crew were located in Saumlaki.
The crew members of A47-33 were:
Flying Officer Leslie Thomas Forsyth (418377) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Warrant Officer Francis Herbert Mathews (418970) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flight Sergeant John Alexander Rolfe (432434) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Thomas Henry Rowlands (419918) (Wireless Operator Air)
Warrant Officer John Ernest Stuart Thompson (415921) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant William Frederick Elmo Thompson (406741) (Pilot)
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 of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 2
Bibliography:
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Boston, Mitchell and Liberator in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992