LEST WE FORGET
Flight Lieutenant Walter Ross VERNON
Service No: 413455
Born: Sydney NSW, 26 October 1914
Enlisted in the RAAF: 17 August 1941
Unit: No. 5 Squadron
Died: Air Operations: (No. 5 Squadron Boomerang aircraft A46-189), Bougainville PNG, 11 January 1945, Aged 30 Years
Buried: Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery PNG
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Lou and Olive Stella Josephine Vernon, of Vaucluse, New South Wales
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 99, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
On 11 January 1945, Boomerang A46-189 was leading a flight of RNZAF Corsair aircraft to bomb a target at Mawhraka on Bougainville Island. The target had been accurately marked by A46-189, and after some bombing, the aircraft was asked to mark the target again. After the second smoke bomb drop on the target, A46-189 was seen to shudder and crash from a height of about 140 feet and burst into flames, killing Flight Lieutenant Vernon.
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, 166/42/99