LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Anthony Dominica Cyril La GRUTA
Service No: 400719
Born: Melbourne VIC, 15 July 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 13 October 1940
Unit: No. 60 Operational Training Unit (RAF)
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 60 Operational Training Unit Defiant aircraft T4042), Scotland, 29 August 1941, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Anthony and Veronica Imelda La Gruta, of St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: St Kilda VIC
Remembered: Panel 62, Runnymede Memorial, Surrey UK
Remembered: Panel 125, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Hunt Law Lammermuir Memorial, East Lothian
Sergeant La Gruta flying Defiant T4042 was authorised to carry out a local radio and direction finding homing practice on 29 August 1941. He was instructed to remain in the locality of the aerodrome in view of the possibility of a decrease in visibility due to early morning mist. The aircraft was authorised to leave at 0645 hours. At 0700 hours instructions were issued to recall T4042 by radio. At 0730 the aircraft was reported as being overdue. Subsequent searches located the wreck of the aircraft on a nearby mountain top. It would appear that the aircraft became lost in cloud and crashed into the mountain. The site of the accident was in the vicinity of Lauder, East Lothian. Sergeant La Gruta was later recorded as having no known grave. A Memorial constructed in the moors in an area known as Hunt Law Lammermuir about 7.5 miles north east of Lauder by the volunteer labour of local people, was dedicated at a service conducted at the site on 2 September 1951.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/136/83