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Flying Officer Alexander Peter Potts

Commemorated at
Given name
Peter
Family name
Potts
Gender
Male
Conflicts
Second World War, 1939–45
Fate
Died of accident (DOA)
Fate date
05 March 1944
Additional information
Last held rank
Flying Officer
Unit at embarkation
100th Beauford Squadron
Service
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
Veteran Notes/Bio

The memorial tablet dedicated to Alexander Peter Potts, R.A.A.F., is located in St John's Anglican Church at Taree, NSW. The Northern Champion, 24 January 1945, reported the tablet was unveiled and dedicated by the Rector Reverend Walter Latham at a special service on 23 December 1944.

Potts was born in Leichhardt, NSW, on 6 July 1919 and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 26 May 1940 in Sydney. As a Flying Officer in the 100 Squadron, he was killed in a flying accident on Goodenough Island, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, Papuan Island, Papua New Guinea on 5 March 1944. He is buried in the Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Bomana, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

A Tribute to our gallant dead

Written by B. R. Bradley ('Brad'), for F/O Peter Potts and his crew:

I stood upon a hilltop 

The earth was spread below

I saw the row of crosses

Against the sunset's glow

I saw the silent splendour

In each military row

 

Tacked on the painted markers

Ave the shiny metal squares

Bearing full the tribute 

That every airman wears

Life and death together

This comradeship he shares

 

And in the midst of rank

Among tlie stripes and braids

Lay the lowly airmen

Beneath the kunai blades.

Lay these noble men together

Regardless of their class

 

And so I saw to-day

A sight which gave me heart

I saw that God considers

Each man an equal part

And on the toad to Glory

Each man does equal start

 

Source: A TRIBUTE TO OUR GALLANT DEAD. (The Manning River Times and Advocate for the Northern Coast Districts of New South Wales, 3 Jun 1944)(Taree, NSW : 1898 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved November 30, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172171398

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