LEST WE FORGET

Captain Brian Dudley WESTGARTH

Service No: NX204346 (Australian Army)
Born: Blayney NSW, 1 January 1917
Enlisted in the Army: 6 September 1944
Unit: Australian Air Liaison Headquarters
Died: Air Operations: (No. 24 Squadron Liberator aircraft A72-196), Borneo, 5 July 1945, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Labuan War Cemetery, Malaysia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Dudley and Lucy Kathleen Westgarth, of Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia. LL.B. (Syd.)
Roll of Honour: Sydney NSW
Remembered: Panel 11, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: University of Sydney World War II Roll of Honour, Camperdown NSW

Brother of Pilot Officer Duncan Dudley Westgarth (413463)

Squadron Leader Redman was the captain and he had a crew of ten RAAF airmen and also carried Captain Westgarth, an army observation officer. At 10 o’clock in the morning, while flying at a height of 200 feet two miles north of Sepinggang airfield (Balikpapan), No. 3 engine was seen to catch fire after being hit by light enemy anti-aircraft fire, and the aircraft then exploded in mid-air. None of the crew was seen to escape by parachute and a second aircraft directed to the scene of the crash saw the wreckage burning furiously on the ground. An army patrol got to within 150 yards of the wreckage, but was unable to penetrate farther because of enemy resistance.

Extract from Odgers, G.J. (George James) (VX127783) Air War Against Japan 1943-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957 – Page 486

The crew members of A72-196 were:
Pilot Officer Martin Allan Burrows (12720) (Flight Engineer)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Michael Cornelius (436789) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Warrant Officer Harold Allan Gooding (418040) (Co-Pilot)
Squadron Leader John Robert Walter Redman (402395) (Pilot)
Flight Sergeant Leslie Rogers (449787) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Frederick Leslie Rollings (438085) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Harold Shadforth (449303) (Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Rex Victor Skinner (407185) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flight Sergeant Patrick Fraser Stanley (430846) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant Roy Tapper (434336) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Flight Sergeant James Ogilvie Ross Vickers (66185) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Captain Brian Dudley Westgarth (NX204346) (Australian Army) (Support Air Observer)

References:

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9845, 72
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line

Bibliography:

Baker, N. (Nicola) More Than Little Heroes: Australian Army Air Liaison Officers in WWII, Australian National University Canberra ACT 2600, 1994
Nelmes, M.V. (Michael) Tocumwal to Tarakan: Australians and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Banner Books Belconnen ACT 2616, 1994
Wilson, S. (Stewart) Boston, Mitchell and Liberator in Australian Service, Aerospace Publications Weston Creek ACT 2611, 1992

Book Now Book Now