LEST WE FORGET

Flying Officer John Allan SCHMIDT

Service No: 434671
Born: Brisbane QLD, 25 November 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 27 February 1943 (at Sydney NSW)
Unit: No. 358 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 358 Squadron Liberator aircraft KM278), South East Asia, 23 January 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Rudolph and Lilian Clara Schmidt, of Lindfield, Sydney, Australia
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Column 457, Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Remembered: Panel 130, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: St. Alban’s Anglican Church Roll of Honour, Lindfield NSW

At 1442 hours on 22 January 1945 Liberator KM278 took off from base to carry out a special operations flight over South East Asia. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off and it did not return to base. Following post war enquiries and investigations it was later recorded that the missing crew members had no known graves.

The crew members of KM278 were:

Flight Sergeant Victor Arthur Frederick Butt (1800854) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator/Air)
Warrant Officer Noel Charles Eames (1385263) (RAFVR) (Second Pilot)
Pilot Officer John Hughes (164129) (RAFVR) (Air Bomber)
Flight Lieutenant Stanley Douglas Mayhew MID (63404) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Sergeant Frank William Moore (1699152) (RAFVR) (Air Gunner)
Sergeant John Richard Perry (1626796) (RAFVR) (Flight Engineer/Gunner)
Sergeant William George Roberts (656237) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flying Officer John Allan Schmidt (434671) (Wireless Operator/Air)

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, 166/37/712
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

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