C9 - Murder of 3 RAAF airmen - Packham, Jones and Benson

Flying Officer K. Packham, Warrant Officer D. Benson and Sergeant Robert Jones of the Royal Australian Air Force were captured after separate Beaufighter crashes in northern Celebes during operations flown from Morotai. Benson and Jones, of No. 77 Squadron RAAF, were the crew of an aircraft engaged in photographic reconnaissance and armed patrols that failed to return on 30 December 1944 after crashing during the mission. Packham, also of No. 77 Squadron, was shot down during a bombing attack on Tomohon on 1 February 1945.

The three airmen were taken prisoner by Japanese forces and later transported to Kakaskasen in northern Celebes. On or about 5 March 1945, they were executed by beheading with a sword without trial or any form of judicial process.

As captured members of the Allied armed forces, the three airmen were entitled to the protections afforded to prisoners of war under the laws and customs of war. Their execution constituted the unlawful killing of prisoners of war.

After Japan's surrender, Australian investigators gathered evidence from witnesses and Japanese records to establish the circumstances of the murders. The investigation resulted in Australian War Crimes Trials M15 and M31, in which those responsible for the executions were prosecuted. The case forms part of a wider pattern of unlawful executions of captured Allied airmen in northern Celebes during the final year of the Pacific War.