LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Donald Alexander Ronald MUNRO
Service No: 402130
Born: Sydney NSW, 4 June 1918
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 may 1940
Unit: No. 250 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 250 Squadron Tomahawk aircraft AK383), Egypt-Libya border area, 18 June 1941, Aged 23 Years
Buried: Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Donald Cuthbert and Clementine Munro, of Moree, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Moree NSW
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Moree War Memorial Hall – World War Two Honour Rolls, Moree NSW
For three days No. 250 flew a series of standing patrols over the battlefield, meeting very few enemy aircraft; but when, on 18 June, the land battle swung very much in the enemy’s favour, Tedder intervened and ordered all fighters to concentrate on ground strafing. This was done, the Tomahawks of No. 250 concentrating on the main Capuzzo-EI Adem roads. Although effective this was relatively costly, as four pilots, including one Australian were lost on one such operation.
On this day No. 250 lost one aircraft to anti-aircraft fire, and three pilots to the Bf109s of JG27 including Pilot Officer Donald Munro (AK383), who baled out. The Squadron considered that he was fired on during his parachute descent.
Extract from Brown, R. (Russell) Desert Warriors Australian P-40 Pilots at War in the Middle East and North Africa 1941-1943, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4652, 2000 – Page 21
Pilot Officer Munro’s body was found by an Army Unit operating in the area on 8 February 1942.
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, 163/45/103
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line
Bibliography:
Ilbery, P.L.T. (Peter Leslie Thomas) (422957) Hatching an Air Force: 2SFTS, 5SFTS, 1BFTS Uranquinty and Wagga Wagga, Banner Books Maryborough QLD 4650, 2002