Service No. 421797

Date of Birth: 23 Jul 1917 

Place of Birth: Bronte, NSW,

Date of Enlistment: 28 Mar 1942

Rank: Flight Sergeant 

Date of Death: 12 Apr 1945

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The following excerpt from Alamein to the alps by Mark Lax

 

"Friday the 13th of April would become known and recorded in the Unit Operational Record Book as Black Friday. It was not just because US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had died, but the Squadron lost two crews while attacking targets on the Po River and almost another. Warrant Officer Col Evans flying FW740:O with Warrant Officers John O’Keefe and Ed Murphy and Flying Officer Errol Johnston were tasked to bomb Portonuovo, approximately 10 miles due east of Bologna. Nothing further was heard of crew or aircraft. Later that night, Flying Officer Jim Duffy with navigator Flying Officer Phil Hemsley and wireless operator gunners Warrant Officers Gordon Adam and Ken Nunn-Patrick flying FW716:Q. took off to bomb Argenta and conduct armed reconnaissance of the roads in the northern Italian battle area. Later the wreckage was located near Medicina – the aircraft had crashed in flames and exploded - and three of the crew found and buried, but there was no sign of Duffy, and his body was never recovered. "

 

 

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