LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Wallace Gard PROUT
Service No: 422061
Born: Gilgandra NSW, 24 January 1922
Enlisted in the RAAF: 24 April 1942
Unit: No. 1 Operational Training Unit
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 1 Operational Training Unit Beaufort aircraft A9-353), Lake Wellington VIC, 26 August 1943, Aged 21 Years
Buried: Sale War Cemetery VIC
CWGC Additional Information: Son of William Charles Lawson Prout and Mary May Prout; of Armatree, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Gilgandra NSW
Remembered: Panel 112, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Gilgandra War Memorial, Gilgandra NSW
During a non-operational exercise on 26 August 1943 Beaufort A9-353 was carrying out a mobile low dive bombing attack on a target. During the attack the aircraft crashed into Lake Wellington some three miles east of Sale at 0945 hours. The aircraft was completely submerged and the crew of four was killed. The engines were running normally at the time of the accident.
The crew members of A9-353 were:
Sergeant Jack Henry Farmer (424748) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer Colin Scott Ferguson (411134) (Pilot)
Sergeant Thomas Leonard Keith Lindsay (423889) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Sergeant Wallace Gard Prout (422061) (Wireless Air Gunner)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/33/170; A9845, 254
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line