Texas Terror MemorialPrint Page

The cross commemorates those who lost their lives in the crash of the "Texas Terror" in 1942. 

A group of lngham RAAF training cadets decided to place the cross at this location.  The six-foot aluminium cross was fabricated at the RAAF workshop in Townsville. The cross, bearing the names of those who died in the crash, was dedicated and blessed at three local churches before being transported to the crash site where it was erected in the presence of the US Air Attache, Colonel Andrew McDavid.

On December 18, 1942, an American B-24 Liberator bomber nicknamed the -`Texas Terror` slammed into the side of Hinchinbrook Island during a violent storm, claiming the lives of all 12 people on board. The pilot, First Lieutenant James Gumaer, was the operations officer for the 400th Squadron, 90th Bomb Group known as the `Jolly Rogers`. In November 1943, aboriginals prospecting for tin in the upper gullies of Mount Straloch on Hinchinbrook Island discovered the wreckage of the Liberator and reported their find to local authorities. According to official records, navigational error was the cause of the crash. The remains of the crew were removed and interred in the US Armed Forces Cemetery at Ipswich.  After the war, they were disinterred and held briefly at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, before being interred as a group at Fort McPherson National Cemetery, Nebraska.

Location

Details

Dedication