LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Thomas Orsmond LITTLEJOHN
Service No: 3552
Born: 21 September 1902, Location Unavailable
Enlisted in the RAAF: Date Unavailable
Unit: Headquarters North Western Area, Darwin
Died: Air Raid: Loss of Timor and Java, Darwin, 16 March 1942, Aged 39 Years
Buried: Adelaide River War Cemetery, NT
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dr. Edward Thomas Littlejohn and Margaret Alice Littlejohn; husband of Doris Brenda Littlejohn, of Upper Manilla, New South Wales.
Roll of Honour: Barraba NSW
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Barraba and District War Memorial, Barraba NSW
On the 16th there was a determined air attack on Darwin by 14 bombers in which two RAAF ground staff members were killed and eight others and an American serviceman were wounded. Materially the raiders achieved only a direct bomb hit on the kitchen of the officers’ mess and slight damage to one Hudson.
Extract from Gillison, D.N. (Douglas Napier) (254475) Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1962 – Page 469
The two RAAF members killed were Sergeant John Forrest (406754) and Pilot Officer Thomas Orsmond Littlejohn (3552).
Those members injured were:
Aircraftman Class 1 Walter Charles Aumont (40029) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 July 1946
Aircraftman Class 1 Maurice Arthur Bevan (38801) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 9 January 1946
Leading Aircraftman Patrick Ronald Connor (16021(A511)) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 30 November 1960
Leading Aircraftman John Joseph Ennis (39845) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 29 July 1944
Sergeant Herbert Gear (406478) Seriously injured, Discharged from the RAAF on 13 December 1945.
Private Grube (J3003617) (US Army Ordnance Corps) Slightly injured
Leading Aircraftman Leslie Roger George Gibbins (32581) Seriously injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 5 November 1945
Aircraftman Class 1 Benjamin Morris (35731) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 22 September 1945
Aircraftman Class 1 John Dudley Worthington (60825) Slightly injured, Discharged from the RAAF: 10 September 1945
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 A705, 163/43/62
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line