C11 - Murder of two RAAF airman - McGuigan and Hill

Pilot Officer McGuigan of the Royal Australian Air Force and Sick Berth Attendant Alex Hill of the Royal Australian Navy were among six Allied prisoners of war executed at Tonsea Lama in northern Celebes on 19 June 1945. The other victims were two Dutch prisoners of war and two Indonesian civilians who had been detained by the Japanese.

The prisoners were in Japanese custody when they were taken from confinement and executed without trial or any form of judicial process. As prisoners of war, McGuigan and Hill were protected by the laws and customs of war, which prohibited their arbitrary execution. The killing of the Dutch prisoners similarly violated the protections afforded to captured Allied military personnel.

Following Japan's surrender, Australian war crimes investigators gathered evidence from witnesses and surviving records to establish responsibility for the murders. Their investigation resulted in a series of Australian war crimes trials (M14, M20 and M40), in which those responsible for ordering and carrying out the executions were prosecuted.

The case forms part of the wider record of unlawful killings committed against Allied prisoners of war in the Netherlands East Indies during the final months of the Pacific War and demonstrates that Australian military courts prosecuted crimes committed not only against Australian personnel but also against Allied nationals who suffered alongside them.