Arnold Lockyer

Deeply regret to inform you that your husband 80471 Sergeant Arnold Alexander Lockyer is missing but believed to have lost his life as a result of air operations. Stop.

[Official telegraph, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in National Archives of Australia, 'Arnold Alexander Lockyer', NAA: A705, 166/25/338]

On 31 July 1945, Susanna Lockyer received a telegram. Her husband, Arnold Lockyer, was missing. He was a flight engineer with No 24 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Arnold's plane, a Liberator bomber, was shot down over Celebes (now Sulawesi, Indonesia) on 27 July during an operation with a crew of 10 on board.

Early life

Arnold Lockyer was a Kariyarra Ngarluma man from the Pilbara area of Western Australia.

Arnold was born on 4 May 1915 to Horace Samuel and his wife Sylvie Whalebone. He was one of 6 children; 5 sons and a daughter. Arnold went to Roeburne school and then Whim Creek school until he was 13. He was remembered as being strong and a good athlete. Arnold enjoyed running, swimming, boxing and riding horses. His early years were spent working as a station hand, labourer, wood cutter and driver on pastoral stations in the Pilbara area.

In the mid-1930s, Arnold took a driving job with an auto-engineering service in Perth. His boss, Bob Ive, described him as 'thoroughly trustworthy and capable' and gave him a glowing reference when he applied for the RAAF.

Arnold later moved to Perth to start his own business as a contract-carrier transporting various goods. He was fascinated with internal combustion engines and repaired all the vehicles he drove.

In 1936, Arnold, aged 21, married Susanna Philomena Clarke. They had 3 children together, all boys.

Joining the Air force and training

Arnold joined the RAAF on 5 May 1942 with Edgar, his older brother. His 3 younger brothers, Elliot, Albert and Eric joined the Australian Army. It was not unusual for most or all brothers in one family to join the armed forces during wartime. Arnold and his brothers were motivated by attaining citizenship rights as well as serving their country

At the time, it was deemed 'neither necessary nor desirable' for First Australians to be accepted into the Australian Army's Australian Imperial Force for active service overseas. This was a Defence Committe recommendation to the War Cabinet in 1940.

But the RAAF accepted qualified non-Europeans to meet the recruitment needs of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS).

Accepted into the EATS, Arnold qualified as mechanical ground staff (mechanic) and served in the No. 17 Repair and Salvage Unit stationed at Cunderin, Western Australia.

In 1944, Arnold completed training as an air gunner in Sale, Victoria, before operational training at Tocumwal, New South Wales. He was then promoted to Sergeant.

Wartime service

From December 1944, Arnold was attached to the Heavy Bomber Refresher training unit based at Nadzab, New Guinea. He continued training in combat B-24 Liberators.

Allied forces used B-24s, long-range heavy bombers, in all theatres of the war. In the Pacific, they supported Allied submarines and bombed Japanese-held positions, such as airfields and harbours. The B-24s played a significant role in the Allies re-taking the Netherlands East Indies and Borneo.

Arnold joined No 24 Squadron on 6 April 1945 as a flight engineer and was promoted to flight sergeant on 23 May 1945.

With 24 squadron, Arnold moved to Morotai (now in Indonesia) in June and to Balikpapan in July. In August, the aircrews flew missions – bombing raids against Japanese targets in support of the Allied ground attacks.

AWM AC0207

Lockyer's fate

During a mission on 27 July 1945, Arnold's aircraft was shot down by the Japanese over Celebes. Lockyer and 2 other crewmen parachuted from the aircraft and survived. They were the only known survivors. The other crew members were reported missing, presumed dead.

Arnold was captured and taken to the Japanese prisoner of war camp at Kaaten, with Pilot Officer George Grey Lindley. A Japanese soldier killed the other survivor, Flight Sergeant John Orgill, when he resisted arrest.

On 21 August 1945, only 6 days after Japan's surrender, Arnold and Lindley were killed by Japanese guards.

Susanna, Arnold's wife, was notified of her husband's capture by telegram. It was more than 2 years later, on 11 September 1947, that she learnt that Albert had died.

The Japanese guards were later found guilty of war crimes.

AWM P08405.003

Commemoration of the Arnold brothers

Arnold Lockyer is buried in Ambon War Cemetery in Indonesia. He was 30 when he died.

Only 3 of the Lockyer brothers returned home safely after the war. Arnold's younger brother, Eric Lockyer, was killed in action. Eric, 21, was a private in the 2/24th Infantry Battalion.

In 2006, a memorial was dedicated to the Lockyer brothers from Whim Creek. It commemorates the military service of Arnold, Edgar, Albert, Elliott and Eric Lockyer.