Joseph Remy Louis LEBEAU
Date of Birth: 16 March 1905
Place of Birth: Breda, Breda Municipality, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Rank: Luitenant-commandant ter zee 1e klasse (Lt.Cdr.) [Lieutenant-commander at sea 1st class]
Group(s): Marineluchtvaartdienst MLD., Koninklijke Marine KM., [Netherlands Naval Aviation Service, Netherlands Royal Navy]
Service Number: 818
Awards: Kris van verdienste (KV) [Cross of Merit]
Oorlogsherinneringskruis 3 (OHK) [War Commemorative Cross]
Ereteken voor Langdurige Dienst als Officier XV [Decoration for long-term service as an officer]
Died: 7 September 1944
Age: 39 years
Buried: Cairns War Cemetery – Plot A – Row E – Grave 1 [Coll.]
Joseph Remy Louis Lebeau was the younger son of Johannes Franciscus Ludovicus Lebeau and Charlotte Antoinette Catherine Marie Samson. On his birth registration his name is recorded as Joseph Remij Louis Lebeau. His brother Jan Rudolf Marie Lebeau was born on 17 September 1909 at Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
Joseph married Johanna Maria Manders on 22 July 1937 in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.
Joseph Remy Louis Lebau was a Luitenant ter zee 1e klasse in the Marineluchtvaartdienst, Koninklijke Marine [Lieutenant at sea 1st class in the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service, Royal Netherlands Navy].
Luitentant Lebeau rose through the ranks in the Netherlands Navy from:-S-Luitenant ter zee 3e klasse (S.Lt.) in August 1926 [S-Lieutenant at sea 3rd class]Luitentenant ter zee 2e klasse (Lt.) in August 1928 [Lieutentant at sea 2ndcClass]Luitenant-commandant ter zee 1e klasse (Lt.Cdr.) [Lieutenant Commander at sea 1st Class]
In February 1943 he sailed from Scotland to Australia on the SS Ruahine with 65 other Dutch naval personnel. His last address in United Kingdom was Netherland Naval HQ 4 North Row London, age 37, Lt. Cdr. Royal Netherlands Navy.
In March 1942 Joseph was the Commander of the 2nd Minesweeper Division at the Surabaya Naval Base. He escaped when the Japanese forces overtook the Dutch territory of the Netherlands East Indiës [NEI].
He was the Commander of the Dutch Mine Sweeper Hr.Ms. Abraham Crijnssen for a short period in August 1942 and then from the 5 May 1943 -15 June 1944.
(Hr.Ms. [Hare Majesteit’s – Her Majesty] Abraham Crijnssen was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy on 26 August 1942. After a refit to become an anti-submarine vessel, the HMAS Abraham Crijnssen operated a convoy escort between Melbourne and Brisbane. She was returned to the Royal Netherlands Navy on 5 May 1943 and continued escort duty with the occasional minesweeping).
In early 1942 when the Japanese began occupying the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) many Dutch civilians and military personnel were evacuated or escaped to Australia. Some of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN) vessels of the fleet also escaped to Australia.
During the war the 1 N.E.I.T.S. [Netherlands East-Indiës Transport Service], provided a regular twice a week route to Merauke from Melbourne via Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns. It was a four-day round-trip with overnight stays in Brisbane and Merauke.
Royal Netherlands East Indiës Air Force C-47 Dakota DT9-41 was on the return leg when it left Merauke air base, Dutch New Guinea Thursday 7 September 1944 bound for Cairns, a flight that usually took about four hours.
On board were 18 Dutch nationals and 2 Australians.
The four crew members of the N.E.I.T.S were Luitenant Hermanus J. H. Daanen, Captain; Sergeant-majoor Willem A. Torn, Co-pilot; Sergeant Jacques F. Damwijk, Engineer; Sergeant Eugene Kerdijk, Wireless Operator.
Members of 120 Squadron NEI-AF who were on their way for some rest and relaxation in Australia: Luitenants Bernard van Aken, Rudolf Braakensiek, Hendrik P. Levy, Otto Leyding, Robert J. Salm and Jan S. Zwart and Sergeant Abraham C. Scholte. Sergeants MartinusJ. Straub and Marinus Boogerman of the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service.
Two other pilots who expected to be on the Dakota were reassigned to fly their Kittyhawks to Canberra for maintenance but, their luggage remained on board the Dakota.
Luitenants Robert E. J. Boereboom and Samuel Jacob were Royal Netherlands-East Indies Army officers who were part of the NEFIS [Netherlands-East Indiës Forces Intelligence Service].
Luitenant Commander Joseph R.L. Lebeau of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
Two women civilians, Mevrouw [Mrs.] Waas and Mevrouw [Mrs.] Wakemau who were reported to be with the Red Cross.
The Australian military officers: Squadron Leader Leslie Dawson R.A.A.F. [Royal Australian Air Force] and Lieutenant Hector W. H. Armstrong A.A.S.C. [Australian Army Service Corps].
The crew of the Dakota radioed they would be landing in 10 minutes at Cairns but nothing more was heard from them. They were experiencing bad weather when approaching Cairns in the late afternoon. It was thought the plane crashed into the sea.
An extensive search for the missing plane was undertaken by the Air Force over the sea and land, and were supported by the army, police, and scores of civilians in remote areas. No trace of the plane could be found, and the search was called off after three weeks by the Dutch authorities.
Luitenant-Commander ter zee 1e klasse [Lieutenant Commander at sea 1st class] Joseph LeBeau was posthumously awarded the Kruis van Verdienste [Cross of Merit] on 7 March 1947 for “courageous and policy-making action in an enemy mine action” on 1 March 1942 aboard the Dutch minesweeper Hr.Ms. Abraham Crijnssen.
He also received the following Service Awards.
The Oorlogsherinneringskruis 3 OHK (War Commemorative Cross with 3 Bars)
(This is not Joseph Lebau’s Badge. We do not know what his 3 Bars represent)
Wreckage of the plane was discovered 45 years later in January 1989 by seven members of the Australian New Zealand Scientific Exploration Society (ANZSES) when they were collecting plant specimens on the mountain peaks north-west of Mossman, North Queensland.
They contacted Air Force officials in Canberra about their find. The registration markings still visible on the tail confirmed it was the missing plane.
News of the discovery was sent to The Hague in the Netherlands and so began the difficult task of tracking down and notifying the next of kin.
Permission was given on Tuesday 24 January 1989 for a recovery mission to retrieve the remains of the passengers and the many personal items from amongst the crash debris. Access to the site was only accessible by helicopter. The operation was conducted by No. 27 Squadron with the helicopter support from No. 35 Squadron, Townsville. The mission concluded on Saturday 11 February 1989.
On Saturday 29 July 1989 the remains of the 20 crash victims were laid to rest together in a large single grave in the Cairns War Cemetery with full Military Honors.
The armed honor guard at the monument consisted of special units of the Australian land, air and naval forces.
Relatives, especially from America, Netherlands and Australia that had traveled to Cairns, were highly impressed with the ceremony
In 1993 all were registered in the Queensland Birth Death and Marriage register with the death recorded as 7 September 1944.
Online Resources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Awards to the Dutch for the Second World War
AFC and Royal Australian Air Force Association Queensland Division Cairns Branch
Military Aircraft Crashes in Australia during WW2-Oz At War
National Library of Australia: Trove Digitised Newspapers
Queensland Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
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