LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Bernard Aloysius O’HARA
Service No: 415176
Born: Perth WA, 3 June 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 21 July 1941
Unit: No. 18 Squadron (RAF), Gerbini, Sicily
Died: Air Operations (No. 18 Squadron Boston aircraft AL747), Sicily, 18 July 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John Patrick and Alice Maude O’Hara, of Nedlands, Western Australia.
Roll of Honour: Perth WA
Remembered: Panel 128, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Cenotaph Undercroft, State War Memorial, Kings Park WA
Boston AL747 took off at 0215 hours on the 18 July 1943 to carry out an armed reconnaissance over Sicily. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it failed to return to base. The aircraft was seen to fall in flames. All four crew members were killed.
The crew members of AL747 were:
Sergeant Robert Henry Halliday (R/131077) (RCAF) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant Clifford Kincaid (1080458) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Bernard Aloysius O’Hara (415176) (Pilot and Aircraft Captain)
Sergeant Glen Edwin Rozell (R/107240) (RCAF) (Air Gunner)
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 A705, 166/31/85