As ANZAC Day approaches we remember a young Kogarah airman who gave his life for his country in April 1944, eighty years ago.
Kenneth George Feeney was born at Goulburn on 8 March 1917, son of George and Margaret Feeney. The family came to live at Marx Avenue, Beverley Park, Kogarah. Kenneth’s father, a railway worker, died in an accident at Clyde railway yards in 1936.
After leaving school, Kenneth too worked for NSW Railways, as a booking clerk based at Strathfield Station. After the outbreak of World War Two, he enlisted in May 1941. He served in the RAAF and trained as a pilot, becoming a Pilot-Officer in February 1944.
He served as 411690, a Pilot-Officer with 467 Squadron, which was based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, England. He flew Lancaster bombers. In the lead-up to D-Day, the Squadron carried out repeated bombing raids on key infrastructure in France, aiming to disrupt German troop movements. The target on the night of 21April 1944 was the railway marshalling yards at La Chapelle, in the north of Paris. Approaching the target, Feeney’s plane was hit by flak, and it crashed. None of the crew of seven survived.
Kenneth Feeney was buried at Clichy Northern Cemetery, France. He was 27. The inscription on his headstone reads: “His Duty Nobly Done.”
His mother asked that he be remembered at Kogarah War Memorial.
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