Portrait of 1st Lieutenant (Lt) George Leo Cantello, who was later Commanding Officer of the 41st ...

Portrait of 1st Lieutenant (Lt) George Leo Cantello, who was later Commanding Officer of the 41st Pursuit Squadron (flying P-39 Airacobras), of the 35th Pursuit Group, United States Army Air Force (USAAF), which was based at Bankstown Airport, near Sydney, NSW, in 1942. On the morning of 8 June 1942, whilst responding to a call to intercept the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine, I-24, (which had just shelled the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney), Lt Cantello was killed when his P-39 Airacobra stalled and crashed into the ground near the small farming community of Hammondville, NSW. The following day the wreckage was recovered and Lt Cantello's remains were sent for burial at a military cemetery in Sydney. Post-war his remains were taken to the 'Punchbowl' War Cemetery in Hawaii. In 1988, at Hammondville, a memorial park with a monument dedicated to Lt Cantello was opened jointly by the United States and Australian Governments.