Honour Roll

1. Leslie Joseph Blight was a sailor. He was the son of Les Blight, farmer and storekeeper for many years in Beacon, Western Australia. Leslie junior was a student before joining the Royal Australian Navy in 1941. His rank was Stoker. His ship was HMAS Nestor. Leslie was killed by a German plane dropping a stick of bombs on the destroyer HMAS Nestor. This occurred on 16th June 1942 in the Mediterranean Sea near Greece.

2. Robert George Goff was the son of Captain George Goff MC. The family was from Dalgouring in Western Australia. Robert was a Leading Stoker. His ship HMAS Yarra was sunk in the Indian Ocean by a superior force of Japanese war ships on 9th March 1942.

3. Harry Laurance Elkins was born in Margate, England. He farmed in North Marindo, Western Australia (Ninghan location 3260). He joined the 2nd/4th Machine Gun Battalion, a Western Australian Unit. The 2nd/4th Gun Battalion was in Singapore when it was attacked by the Japanese. The 2nd/4th Gun Battalion suffered many casualties on the first assaults by the Japanese. An order came from higher command to surrender. Harry died on 12th August 1943 whilst a prisoner of war of the Japanese.

4. Philip Geoffrey Hammond was the brother of Theo Hammond who farmed north of Dalgouring in Western Australia (Ninghan location 3043). He joined the army in November 1939. He was a member of the 2nd//11th Infantry Battalion. He was killed on the Island of Crete on 28th May 1941.

5. William Henderson came from Lake Hillman (near Kalannie) to Marindo, Western Australia. He was born in Scotland in 1905. He farmed Ninghan locations 2989 and 3408. William walked off his Marindo farm due to the depression. He joined the 2nd/11th Infantry Battalion and was captured in North Africa by the German army. He died whilst a prisoner of war on 7th November 1943. His medals were sent to his next of kin in Scotland in 1953.

6. Jack Oliver Street farmed with his father at Ballidu in Western Australia. Following the failure of that farming enterprise Jack came to Beacon and worked for Harry Dunne. He later joined the army and was killed by the explosion of a Japanese artillery shell on the Malayan Peninsula on 5th February 1942.

7. Vernon Halloway Hardwick was the son of Harry Guy Hardwick of Mandiga in the wheat belt of Western Australia. Vernon farmed south of Dalgouring (Ninghan location 3021). He joined the RAAF in 1940. His rank was Leading Aircraftman. He trained as a wireless operator. His unit, 11 squadron RAAF flew Catalina Flying Boats. His plane was engaged in reconnaissance during the Battle of the Coral Sea. On the way back to base in Port Moresby, they were shot down by Japanese fighters. A Japanese Destroyer picked the crew up and took them to Rabaul where they were beheaded in the Japanese Navy Execution Grounds on the 4th November 1942. Their fate wasn’t discovered until RAAF search parties located the mass grave after the war.