The Commonwealth War Graves Commission http://www.cwgc.org/

Details for William http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2187300

Nationality: New Zealand
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: Royal New Zealand Air Force
Age: 26
Date of Death: 07/07/1943
Service No: 413262
Additional information: Son of Clement and Olive Annie Lankshear, of Levin, Wellington, New Zealand.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 7.
Memorial: BOURAIL MEMORIAL

Bourail is on the western coast of the island of New Caledonia.
Above the panels is the following inscription: 1939 - 1945 THESE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE NEW ZEALAND ARMY, THE ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE AND THE WESTERN PACIFIC LOCAL FORCES SERVED AND DIED IN THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC ON LAND AT SEA AND IN THE AIR AND HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.

An email received 21 April 2007 and many thanks to Jennifer Sturm for taking the time to send this:

Hello Ron,
Last year I completed a PhD which looked at the writing of an English author, Anna Kavan. She lived in Auckland, NZ for
22 months 1941-1942, and travelled back to England at the end of 1942. She travelled as the only woman aboard the SS
Trojan Star, a cargo ship which also carried eleven RNZAF pilots. Amongst these men was your relative, William Clement
Lankshear, who was unfortunately killed only six months after his arrival in England.
I discovered an unpublished manuscript, written by Kavan, and covering the long and dangerous journey through the Pacific, the Canal, New York, and then the Atlantic. She writes of the pilots with affection, and although she doesn't specifically name them I have established their identities on a New York Alien Passenger Manifesto. Of the eleven, five were killed, one [William Green of 49 Squadron]received a DFC posthumously.
I hope this information is of interest to you.
Best regards,
Jennifer Sturm
PS The ship left Auckland 13 November 1943, then left Napier on 18 November, and reached Liverpool on 28 January 1943.