LEST WE FORGET
Captain Alistair Norman MacKENZIE
Service No: VX74 (Australian Army)
Born: Mount Gambier SA, 23 August 1917
Enlisted in the Army: 27 October 1939 (at Melbourne VIC)
Unit: No. 3 Contact and Enquiry Unit
Died: Ground Operations, Java, 17 April 1946, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Jakarta War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Norman and Ruby Maud MacKenzie, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 95, Supplementary Panel 1, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On the 17April 1946, Squadron Leader Frederick George Birchall, (252031) (Administrative & Special Duties) was engaged in an investigation by the War Crimes Tribunal. He was one of a party proceeding by motor vehicle along a road near the village of Tjaningin, about 100 kms south of Jakarta, Java. The party was ambushed and Squadron Leader Birchall escaped from the vehicle, but his body was found a few days later by the Indonesian police. Others to lose their lives were Flight Lieutenant Hector Murdoch McDonald (120571) (A & SD) of RAAF Headquarters (North Western Area) and Captain MacKenzie. Indonesian sources said the atrocity had been committed by a band of marauders led by two Japanese deserters. Three Indonesian men and the two Japanese deserters were arrested and both deserters committed suicide in prison. The fate of the Indonesians is not recorded in the casualty file.
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 B883, VX74
RAAF Directorate of Public Relations, Victory Roll, Australian War Memorial Canberra, 1945 – Chapter: Return to Timor
Bibliography:
Eames, Jim The Searchers, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia QLD 4067, 1999 – Chapter 8: Caught in a Maelstrom