Photo of the crash

The Canal Creek air crash occurred on 19 December 1943 when a C-47 aircraft of the 22d Troop Carrier Squadron 374th Troop Carrier Group crashed at Canal Creek, Queensland, fifty kilometres north of Rockhampton, killing all 31 people on board.[1]

The aircraft was enroute from Townsville to Brisbane with a scheduled stop in Rockhampton.[2] The crash is believed to be caused by a fire in one of the engines which caused an explosion, destroying part of the aircraft causing it to disintegrate and crash.[1][3]

Those killed included twenty United States Armed Forces personnel, eight Australian Defence Force personnel, an Australian war photographer, a representative from the YMCA and an adjutant from the Salvation Army.[4]

Due to wartime censorship, there was very little press coverage of the accident, with the few newspaper articles that were published focusing on the non-combatants on-board such as Harold Dick (war photographer), Nigel James MacDonald (YMCA) and William Tibbs (Salvation Army).[5][6][7] However, those stories only mentioned that they had been "killed in a plane accident" with no specific details about the disaster.[5][6][7]

Canal Creek war memorial

With so many locals still unaware of the disaster at the turn of the century, Yeppoon resident John Millroy began campaigning for a permanent memorial at the crash site to commemorate those who died.[1][8] After securing $14,000 in government funding, a monument was unveiled by World War II servicemen Neville Hewitt and Yeppoon RSL president Wayne Carter on 16 June 2012.[9][10] Rockhampton mayor Margaret Strelow and Queensland Governor Penelope Wensley attended the ceremony.[9] Wensley said it was good the tragedy was being remembered while Strelow praised Millroy for his part in organising the memorial.[9]

Annual memorial services are now held at the crash site.[11] A 75th anniversary commemoration was held in 2018.[12][13]

The Canal Creek air crash occurred just a month after the Rewan air crash near Rolleston, in which 19 Australian and American personnel were killed[14][15][16] and six months after the Bakers Creek air crash near Mackay in which 40 military personnel were killed.[17]

Crew and Passengers[18]

Name Country City
Pilot 2nd Lieutenant William R. Crecelius USA Indiana
Co-Pilot 2nd Lieutenant John B. Rowell USA Michigan
Engineer Technical Sergeant John L. Shupe USA Virginia
Radio Operator Seargeant Robert S. Fazio USA New York
Passenger Technical Sergeant Carlos M. Bane USA Pennsylvania
Passenger Seargeant Charles F. Dolan USA New York
Passenger 2nd Lieutenant Harry Gillies USA New York
Passenger 2nd Lieutenant William B. Graham USA Pennsylvania
Passenger Captain Orlen N. Loverin USA California
Passenger Warrant Officer Herbert R. Johnson USA New York
Passenger Private Herbert J. Mathias USA Indiana
Passenger Major Hoyt A. Ross USA Minnesota
Passenger Captain Robert J. Simmons USA Florida
Passenger Chief Warrant Officer Thomas W. Smith USA Georgia
Passenger Captain George K. Snyder USA Pennsylvania
Passenger Gunner’s Mate Frank J. Carline USA Massachusetts
Passenger Lieutenant William W. Samuelsen USA New York
Passenger Gunner’s Mate Jack H. Staggs USA California
Passenger 2nd Lieutenant Ernestine M. Koranda USA Minnesota
Passenger 2nd Lieutenant Rebecca M. Williams USA Pennsylvania
Passenger LAC Donald C. Cameron Australia Texas, Queensland
Passenger Captain Alexander W.R. Geddes Australia Waratah, New South Wales
Passenger Captain Crawford D. Mollison Australia South Yarra, Victoria
Passenger Leading Aircraftman Raymond K. Oster Australia Maitland, South Australia
Passenger Private Benjamin Rasmussen Australia Merrick, Queensland
Passenger Corporal Thomas W. Shard Australia Ipswich, Queensland
Passenger Corporal William B. Sleep Australia Brisbane, Queensland
Passenger Captain John H. Weir Australia Melbourne, Victoria
Passenger Harold (Arnold George) Dick Australia Sydney, New South Wales
Passenger Nigel James Bruce MacDonald Australia Neutral Bay, New South Wales
Passenger William Bramwell Tibbs Australia Sydney, New South Wales

Pilot

2nd Lieutenant William Randall "Randy" Crecelius was born on November 21, 1918 in Gibson County, Indiana. He was the first of five children born to Henry Crecelius and Maude Miley Crecelius.

Crecelius enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on September 26, 1940. He was eventually assigned to the 22nd Troop Carrier Squadron, 374th Troop Carrier Group. This Squadron operated the Douglas C-47 Skytrain in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during the war.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on May 29, 1943. His citation included the following: "He took part in more than fifty missions, dropping supplies and transporting troops over territory that was continually patrolled by enemy fighter aircraft. Often landings were made on fields only a few miles from Japanese bases. These operations aided considerably in the recent success in this theatre."[18]

After his death, it took more than four years to return his body to the United States. He was buried on March 11, 1948 in the family plot of Warnock Cemetery in Princeton, Indiana.

A scholarship in his name was established at Oakland City University in 1983.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Roberts, Alice; Mackay, Jacquie (22 May 2012), A site to remember: Canal Creek air disaster, ABC Capricornia, archived from the original on 10 March 2022, retrieved 27 August 2019
  2. ↑ "Crash of C-47 of 22nd Troop Carrier Squadron, 374th Transport Group 30 miles north of Rockhampton". Oz at War. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  3. ↑ "Canal Creek Memorial Service". Department of Defence. Australian Government. 24 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  4. ↑ "Canal Creek Air Crash". Monuments Australia. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Cameraman dies in crash". The Courier-Mail. 21 December 1943. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  6. 1 2 "YMCA man killed in air crash". The Argus. 30 December 1943. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Tributes to Adjutant W B Tibbs, Salvationists honour gallant comrade". The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser. 31 December 1943. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "RSL plans memorial at Canal Creek". The Morning Bulletin. 5 January 2012. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 Robinson, Paul (18 June 2012). "Memorial recognises WWII plane crash victims". ABC News. Archived from the original on 31 October 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "Wayne Carter and Neville Hewitt unveil the stone at the Canal Creek plane crash memorial". ABC News. 18 June 2012. Archived from the original on 18 July 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "Canal Ck memorial service to honour lives lost in crash". The Morning Bulletin. 15 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  12. ↑ "CQ community commemorates 75th anniversary of air disaster". Rockhampton Morning Bulletin. 18 December 2018.
  13. ↑ "75th Canal Creek air disaster memorial". The Morning Bulletin. 20 December 2018. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Memorial to honour war crash victims". ABC News. 23 April 2004. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  15. ↑ "Dakota C-47 Air Crash Memorial". Monuments Australia. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  16. ↑ "Crash of a C-47A Dakota on Rewan Station, south of Springsure". Oz at War. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  17. ↑ Meixner, Sophie (14 June 2018). "Remembering Australia's worst air disaster and the cover-up that echoed for decades". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  18. 1 2 O'Brien, Mary (2013). The 1943 Canal Creek Air Crash and other aircraft disasters in Central Queensland during WW2. Capricorn Host Historical Society.

Further reading

22°58′47″S 150°28′53″E / 22.97974°S 150.48141°E / -22.97974; 150.48141 (Canal Creek Air Crash monument)

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