LEST WE FORGET

Wing Commander Walter Lawrence HAMMOND MID

Service No: 1075
Born: Adelaide SA, 9 September 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date Unavailable
Unit: No. 10 Operational Group, Nadzab, PNG
Awarded the Mentioned in Despatches (MID) (London Gazette 184, 19 August 1943)
Died: Aircraft Accident: No. 10 Group at Nadzab (No. 10 Operational Group Anson aircraft LT294), New Guinea, 30 January 1944, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Sidney Nott Hammond and Rosina Hammond; husband of Gwenda Elsie Hammond, of Westbourne Park, South Australia. A.F.I.A.
Roll of Honour: Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide

On 30 January 1944, Avro Anson LT294 went missing on a flight between Nadzab and Port Moresby. On board were:

Wing Commander Walter Lawrence Hammond MID (1075) (Pilot) Group Equipment Officer
Group Captain Frederick James Byam Wight (30) (Second Pilot) Senior Administrative Officer

The wreck of the Anson was located in 1964 and they were recovered and buried with full military honours on 5 March 1965.

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 A9845, 65
Odgers, G.J. (George James) (VX127783) Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957 – Page 184

Bibliography:

Eames, Jim The Searchers, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia QLD 4067, 1999 – Chapter 10: The Long Wait

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