LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Roderick Daniel MacDONALD
Service No: 405080
Born: Cloncurry QLD, 21 October 1908
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 37 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 37 Squadron Wellington aircraft ES989), Egypt-Libyan Border, 7 September 1942, Aged 33 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Angus and Helen Macdonald; husband of Myrtle Margaret Macdonald, of Gympie, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Cairns QLD
Remembered: Column 265, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 7 September 1942 Wellington ES989 in company with other squadron aircraft was detailed to attack Tobruk. Nothing was heard from ES989 after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war searches and investigations, it was recorded in 1948 that no trace of the missing crew members had been found.
The crew members of ES989 were:
Warrant Officer II Archibald Boyd Cameron (R/56347) (RCAF) (Second Pilot)
Warrant Officer II Roger Bentley Clements (R/67894) (RCAF) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant Roderick Daniel MacDonald (405080) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Sergeant Peter McIntyre (946416) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Geoffrey Donald Rawbone (1187264) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer I Sidney Allan George Turner (R/67875) (RCAF) (Pilot)
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, 163/141/703