"K K Herne" Burma Volunteer Air Force Died 23/12/1941

[paulmcmillan]

Find War Dead
Pilot Officer
HERNE, K K
Service Number BVAF/1029

Died 23/12/1941

Burma Volunteer Air Force




https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/c...11331/herne,-/


Still trying to ID this person and the found a family tree on Ancestry and Geni


George Edwin HERNE
1910–1941
BIRTH 28 JUL 1910 • Thaton, Mon State, Myanmar
DEATH 23 DEC 1941 • Rangoon

Note the date of death. I wonder if either same person and initials corrupted over time or a close relation died on same day or cause of confusion?? By the way the second K in the name of the Herne family is usually Kilroy I found a male Kim Kilroy Herne living in Australia in the 1970's and 1980's

Another family tree has his name

Georges Edwin HERNE
1910–1941
BIRTH 28 JUL 1910 • Thaton Burma
DEATH 23 DEC 1941 • Rangoon Burma

[Resmoroh]

Paul, Hi,

I have a:-
Georges Edwin Herne
Birth date 28 Jul 1910
Baptism date 2 Oct 1910
Place Theinzeik, St Paul. Presidency Bengal
Father's name(s) Frank Herne
Mother's first name(s) Mathet

Theinzeik is at GE 17.061515 97.300447, but the church of St Paul currently escapes me!

HTH
Peter Davies

[paulmcmillan]

Sorted

From hisnephew Stephen in Australia

“ This person was my uncle.
He was born "Georges Edwin Herne" (sic).on 28 July 1910.
Throughout his life he was known as "Edwin" only.
Kilroy was his grandmother's maiden name, and Edwin sometimes used the name "Edwin Kilroy Herne"
I've always assumed he joined the BVAF under this name, giving him the initials as E.K. Herne, and in the listing of K.K. Herne, the first K was a corruption of E.
He was killed in the air raid on Mingaladon airport on 23 December 1941. Edwin's father noted that it was "about 10 am". The rest of the family were in Rangoon at the time.”

[Jagan]

Thanks Paul

So eight casualties from the raid on Mingaladon

http://www.rafcommands.com/database/...ame=&serialno=


Out of the 8, The 7 RAF deaths covered by this AIR81 file and 221 Gp ORB.

AIR81/11177

Flight Lieutenant L M Magurk, Corporal T R Buxton, Leading Aircraftsman M Daly, Aircraftsman T Phillips, Leading Aircraftsman O H Jones, Aircraftsman L R Lintott, Aircraftsman W J King: killed; enemy action at RAF Mingaladon near Rangoon, Burma, 23 December 1941. With photographs.

C17058906

only 3 burials recorded, remaining 5 lost to war i guess.

Of the five, four RAF are on Singapore Memorial, but Herne is on the Rangoon Memorial

I didnt know about the existence of the Rangoon Memorial - thought only the Singapore Memorial can be used for the unaccounted ..On retrospective, the Rangoon Memorial would have been ideal for many of the air forces losses from Burma which are commemorated too far away in Singapore.

[Jagan]

What are the odds that we would find a photo of the Mingaladon attack?

from https://fotoweb.airforcemuseum.co.nz...2F%3Fq%3DBurma




Image from the W Christiansen personal album collection. "Mingaladon Dec 23rd 1941. Fire started by Jap bombs." Hangars and airfield at RAF Station Mingaladon with smoke after a Japanese attack.


Image from the W Christiansen personal album collection.
"Rangoon from Mingaladon Dec 23rd 1941. Smoke from oil refinery and Rangoon city."
A No. 135 Squadron Hurricane at RAF Station Mingaladon with smoke from Rangoon in the background.