Knox William Heggaton (1911 - 1942)

Ancestors

Biography

Knox William Heggaton was born on 11th March 1911 in Murrumburrah, New South Wales, Australia. He was the third and youngest son of Doctor Rupert Heggaton and Elizabeth Burgess. ^[1]

Giving his year of birth as 1914, on 11th November 1940 Knox enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for service during the Second World War. ^[2] Allocated to No.59 Squadron, Royal Air Force Bomber Command, based in Norfolk, England, he attained the senior non-commissioned rank of Flight Sergeant as a Wireless-Gunner in a Lockheed Hudson. He was reported missing on 11th May 1942 as a result of air action and presumed dead. Knox William Heggaton's name is located at panel 123 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England and on the Cenotaph at Murrumburrah. ^[3] The body of the Pilot Officer to which Knox was attached was picked up off Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, a bay of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe River. ^[4] His older brother, Vaudan, had been captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell in the February and died as a prisoner-of-war later in the year on the infamous Thai-Burma railroad. Following the war, his parents were issued his 1939-1945 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-1945 and Australia Service Medal 1939-1945.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #18364/1911
2. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: 402924 Flight Sergeant Knox William Heggaton; accessed 30 Dec 2022
3. ↑ Australian War Memorial roll of honour: 402924 Flight Sergeant Knox William Heggaton; accessed 30 Dec 2022
4. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/15254867/knox-william-heggaton : accessed 12 May 2021), memorial page for Flight Sergeant Knox William Heggaton (11 Mar 1914–11 May 1942), Find a Grave Memorial ID 15254867, citing Runnymede Memorial, Englefield Green, Runnymede Borough, Surrey, England ; Maintained by Digger (contributor 50072026)