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DFM
Killed 10/12/1942
On Saturday last Mr. A. E. Yarra, of Armidale, received a letter from the Air Board confirming a previous telegram stating that his son, Flight Lieut. J. W. Yarra, D.F.M., formerly a printer's apprentice on the staff of the "Daily Examiner," was missing, believed to have lost his life in air action on December 10. The letter said the pilot had crashed into the sea two miles off the Flushing coast and was believed to have been killed, but active inquiries were being made to ascertain if there was any chance of his being alive. Mr. Yarra stated that as John was a strong, cool swimmer and of fine stamina and physique, there was a slim chance that, providing he was conscious when he struck the water, he might have been able to swim to land.
By the same post came a photograph of John in a Spitfire which bore eight swastikas and four circled threes, showing that he had shot down eight Germans and four Italians, Above them in large letters on the fuselage was his name for his friend in Grafton, Miss Doreen Brown. "Ned IV.," showing that he had named four of his planes after her. The letter stated that he and Paul Brennan, of Queensland, and another pilot had written a book, "Spitfires over Malta," which is to be published soon.
Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW), 22 December 1942
