LEST WE FORGET
Flying Officer John Sigvald REKDALE
Service No: 408594
Born: Burnley VIC, 12 February 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 April 1941
Unit: No. 100 Squadron, Milne Bay PNG
Died: Air Operations: (No. 100 Squadron Beaufort aircraft A9-191), Milne Bay, 16 October 1943, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of John S. Rekdale and Annie V. Rekdale, of Oakleigh, Victoria.
Roll of Honour: Oakleigh VIC
Remembered: Panel 105, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Soon after take-off from Gurney Field on 16 October 1943, Beaufort A9-191 crashed at Gili Gili after its port engine failed and its crew was killed. The aircraft caught fire and the bombs on board exploded. The crew members were:
Flight Sergeant Donald Kevan Cooper (408253) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Keith Cornish (415619) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer Frederick James Maloney (411248) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flying Officer John Sigvald Rekdale (408594) (Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 247
Bibliography:
Graham, B. (Burton) and Frank Smyth, A Nation Grew Wings: The Story of the RAAF Beaufort Squadrons in New Guinea, Winterset House Publishers Melbourne VIC, 1946
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990