LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant John Francis McMAHON
Service No: 409848
Born: Kinglake VIC, 6 January 1915
Enlisted in the RAAF:
Unit: No. 11 Personnel Disposal and Reception Centre, RAAF Overseas Headquarters
Died: Air Raid: Bournemouth, 23 May 1943, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Bournemouth North Cemetery, Hampshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Joseph and Margaret Mattie McMahon; husband of Muriel Edith McMahon, of Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Kinglake VIC
Remembered: Panel 126, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Flight Sergeant McMahon (a Pilot) was killed on 23 May 1943, when off duty at Bournemouth. About 10 Fw190s attacked Bournemouth at 1250 hours on the 23rd May with bombs and machine gun fire. Direct hits were obtained on a number of buildings. Seven RAAF pilots all off duty were killed in the raid. One was shot when walking in a park, and the other six were killed when a building was demolished by a direct hit from a bomb.
The RAAF Members killed during the raid were:
Flight Sergeant Colin Bernard Crabbe (420453)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Franklin Fenton (412938)
Sergeant Neal Morton Gray (420618)
Flight Sergeant Allan John Kerrigan (420681)
Flight Sergeant John Francis McMahon (409848)
Sergeant George Arthur Mills (33250) Killed in a park
Flight Sergeant Vivian Lewis Pope (416993)
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 Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A 705, 166/26/145