LEST WE FORGET
Leading Aircraftman Percival Leslie SULLIVAN
Service No: 41711
Born: Ballarat VIC, 5 July 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 7 July 1941
Unit: No. 30 Squadron
Died: Ground Accident, Ward’s Strip PNG, 3 February 1943, Aged 25 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Bertie Leslie and Margaret Teresa Sullivan, of Ballarat East, Victoria
Roll of Honour: Ballarat VIC
Remembered: Panel 102, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 3 February 1943, Leading Aircraftman Sullivan, an Armourer, was accidentally shot while working on the cannon of a Beaufighter aircraft at Wards Strip, Port Moresby. He had failed to clear an unexploded round in the cannon before beginning cleaning.
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 A9301, 41711
Bibliography:
Parnell, N.M. (Neville M.) Whispering Death: A history of the RAAF’s Beaufighter Squadrons, AH & AW Reed, Terry Hills NSW, 1980
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1990