LEST WE FORGET
Flight Sergeant Eric MacLeod STEVENSON
Service No: 432589
Born: Dubbo NSW, 7 November 1924
Enlisted in the RAAF: 2 January 1943
Unit: No. 452 Squadron
Died: Prisoner of War (Illness) (from the loss of No. 452 Squadron Spitfire aircraft A58-419 on 13 January 1945), Halmaheras, 14 April 1945, Aged 20 Years
Buried: Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Henry and Margaret Ellen Stevenson, of Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia
Roll of Honour: Dubbo NSW
Remembered: Panel 105, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Dubbo Memorial Drive and Rose Gardens, Dubbo NSW
Remembered: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Honour Rolls, Sydney NSW
On 13 January 1945, Spitfire A58-419 flown by Flight Sergeant Stevenson crashed offshore near
Djamboela in the Halmaheras during an intruder patrol, and the pilot was reported missing.
During the patrol at approximately 1803Z hours, when over Temate, the pilot signified to his No. 1 (Warrant Officer Byrne) that his radio was unserviceable, but he would continue on with the patrol. About five minutes later his No. 1 missed A58-419 and circled the area but found no trace of the aircraft. Fifteen minutes later Warrant Officer Byrne located the crashed aircraft in the sea approximately twenty yards from shore off Djamboela village on Temate Island. Later it was established that Flight Sergeant Stevenson had survived the crash, but native agents from the village notified the Japanese and the Japanese arrested him. On 14 April 1945 Flight Sergeant Stevenson died of Malaria while a Prisoner of War. It was later established that although he had suffered minor ill treatment by the Japanese, this had not contributed to his death.
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, 166/38/870
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line