LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant John Matthew HARRIS
Service No: 267729
Born: 14 October 1918, Location Unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date Unavailable
Unit: No. 457 Squadron, Labuan Borneo
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 93 Squadron Beaufighter aircraft A8-184), Labuan Airstrip, 10 December 1945, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Labuan War Cemetery, Malaysia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Matthew Hugh Harris and Florence Ellen Harris, of Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia. M.B., Ch.B. (Sydney).
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 106, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: University of Sydney World War II Roll of Honour, Camperdown NSW
At 0930 hours on 10 December 1945, Beaufighter A8-184 swung and crashed during its takeoff roll, killing all six RAAF members on board who were:
Squadron Leader Donald Keith Hamilton Gulliver (270655) (Pilot) Fatally injured, Died 10 December 1945
Flight Lieutenant John Matthew Harris (267729) (Medical Branch (Doctor)) (Passenger)
Leading Aircraftman Eli Hedley Herrick (88414) (Passenger)
Group Captain Lyle Charles Macquarie Holswich MID (77) (Pilot) (Passenger)
Leading Aircraftman Donald Nash (130425) (Passenger)
Flying Officer Donald James Seekamp (442582) (Navigator)
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, 57
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990