LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer Ronald Edward GEHRMANN

Service No: 43071
Born: Warwick QLD, 4 May 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 12 June 1941
Unit: No. 22 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 22 Squadron Boston aircraft A28-53), Gorong Island, 20 September 1944, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Henry and Ruby Elizabeth Gehrmann, of Warwick, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 101, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

Brother of Sergeant Kenneth Joseph Gehrmann (426871)

On 20 September 1944, Boston A28-53 took off from Noemfoor, one of five aircraft detailed to carry out an offensive sweep and bomb the Boela strip in Ceram, Netherlands East Indies. Following on the bombing of the strip, the sweep was carried out around Gorong Island. The formation split up and was to reassemble after the sweep at Ingar Island. A28-53 swept the east side of Gorong Island but the aircraft failed to arrive at the assembly point. The Leader of the formation called A28-53 by radio but there was no reply. Later air searches of the island saw the remains of a burned out aircraft on the island. In 1946 a RAAF search party found the wreck of A28-53 and the remains of the crew members near the village of Kataloka on Gorong Island.

The crew members of A28-53 were:

Flying Officer Henry Lendrum Atkins (419337) (Pilot)
Flying Officer Ronald Edward Gehrmann (43071) (Navigator Wireless)

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 A705, 166/15/319

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