LEST WE FORGET

Pilot Officer Patrick Murray MALONEY

Service No: 421364
Born: Trundle NSW, 17 August 1919
Enlisted in the RAAF: 1 February 1942
Unit: No. 424 Squadron (RCAF), RAF station Skipton-on-Swale
Died: Air Operations (No. 424 Squadron Halifax aircraft LV962), Netherlands, 25 April 1944, Aged 34 Years
Buried: Werkendam Protestant Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Gregory Moloney and Margaret Moloney; husband of Lexie Marian Moloney, of Queenscliff, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Manly NSW
Remembered: Panel 133, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT

At 2141 hours on the night of 24/25 April 1944, Halifax LV962 took off from Skipton-on-Swale, detailed to bomb Karlsruhe, Germany. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft crashed in Holland near Werkendan (Nord-Brabant), 4kms south east of the town of Gorinches. Five of the crew members were killed and two became Prisoners of War.

The crew members of LV962 were:

Pilot Officer Lawrence Joseph Henry Boudreau (J/88809) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Robert Watson Brown (R/161283) (RCAF) (Wireless Air Gunner) PoW
Flying Officer Douglas Alexander Crosbie (J/21660) (RCAF) (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Patrick Murray Maloney (421364) (Navigator)
Sergeant Charles Alfred Phall (1866204) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer) PoW
Flying Officer John Evan Tinline (J/26318) (RCAF) (Air Bomber)
Pilot Officer Zenon Romeo Trudeau (J/87046) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)

The Werkendam cemetery is located in the Heusden-en-Altena region which is bordered by the Brabant bulrush wood. Throughout the German occupation, particularly in the winter of 1944, this wood was a favourite hideout for airmen and soldiers, trying to escape capture from the enemy.

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, 166/28/286

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