LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Edmund James Joseph SILK
Service No: 405092
Born: Brisbane QLD, 28 December 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 6 January 1941
Unit: No. 1 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 1 Squadron Hudson aircraft A16-23), Malaya, 26 January 1942, Aged 27 Years
Buried: Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward James Silk and Mary Ellen Silk, of Bardon, Queensland, Australia
Roll of Honour: Brisbane QLD
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 26 January 1942, Hudson A16-23 was attacked by enemy fighter during a raid near Endau on the east coast of Malaya, and both Flying Officer Hughes and Sergeant Silk were killed outright by machine gun fire. The Pilot and the Air Gunner were unhurt and brought the aircraft back to Singapore.
The crew members of A16-23 were:
Sergeant (later Squadron Leader) Leonard Raymond Burston (O3252) (Air Gunner) Discharged from the RAAF: 28 February 1974
Flying Officer David Hughes (577) (Second Pilot)
Flight Lieutenant John Thomas O’Brien AFC (467) (Pilot) Discharged from the RAAF: 21 April 1949
Sergeant Edmund James Joseph Silk (405092) (Wireless 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 Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 163/162/277
Bibliography:
Balfe, J.D. (John Donellan) (272371) War Without Glory: Australians in the war with Japan 1941-5, The MacMillan Company of Australia, South Melbourne 3205, 1984