Percy Gale

Percy Gale was born on 4 September 1904 in West Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales. His mother was Mary Ann Jenkins Gale. On 3 December 1938 Percy married Irene Hedwick Louise Wyatt and in 1939 their daughter, Mary was born. In 1939 his occupation was listed as hospital porter.

The next definite information that we have about Percy is that he died on 12 August 1943 and was buried at the Bone War Cemetery Annaba, Algeria.

The Bone War Cemetery contains 868 burials of Commonwealth soldiers from the Second World War.

Allied forces landed on the coast of Algeria in November 1942. Allied forces then continued into Tunisia where fighting in the North African campaign continued until the end of 1943 when the Axis forces surrendered. 

Allied forces occupied Bone (Annaba) from 12 November 1942. Bone was an important port for supplies and also had an airport. There was also a hospital.

The control of military bases on the Mediterranean coast in North Africa was important for the Allies to keep watch on the movements of German ships and troop movements in relation to North Africa and also in Italy.

The limited information that we have about Percy's service during the war includes that he was an Aircraftman 2nd class (AC2) in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. His service number was 1666106 and his unit was 1 Base Personnel Depot, Mediterranean Command, at Fort De L'eau (Bordj El Kaffan), another port further along the coast. Fort De L'eau also had an airport and a hospital. We have not located any information as to how Percy Gale died.

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale was born in Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales in 1920. His parents were George Windsor Gale and Sena Smith.

During the Second World War Windsor Gale was appointed as a pilot officer in the RAF Volunteer Reserve on 11 January 1945. His service number was 190271. Windsor was stationed at Leuchars Station, Fife on the east coast of Scotland where he was a Flight Engineer in 206 Squadron, Coastal Command. The role of the Coastal Command was to observe the path of German naval vessels, including submarines, in the North Sea.

The B-24 was not a comfortable plane to fly in and some of the crew had to sit on the floor. It was cold with lots of drafts. It was difficult to move around the plane and the crew often collided with structures and equipment within the plane. When the plane was refuelled the plane filled with fumes and aircraft doors would have to remain open until the fumes cleared.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator- Aviation History

On 21 April 1945 Windsor Gale was one of eleven crew members aboard a B-24 Liberator VIII which left Leuchars at 20:11 the previous evening on an anti-shipping patrol. The plane was shot down by a night fighter on a night patrol to Kattegat and crashed into the western part of the Rold Forest, nine miles north of Holbro, Denmark. All the crew died. Windsor was 24 years old.

International Find a Grave

The crew consisted of:

Pilot Lieutenant-Commander Nicodeme Guilonard of the Royal Netherlands Navy,
Second pilot Flying Officer Anthony Richard Tenison Smith,
Navigator Flying Officer Alan James Harding,
Navigator Warrant Officer George Henry Topliff,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Flight Lieutenant Peter Stevens Leinthall Laycock,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Warrant Officer Walter William Spencer,
Wireless Operator-Air Gunner Warrant Officer Thomas Keith Theaker,
Air Gunner Warrant Officer George Charles Kenneth Long,
Air Gunner Warrant Officer Kenneth Alwyn Albert Emery, 
Wireless Operator-Mechanic/Air Gunner Flight Sergeant Frederick Ralph Orritt and
Flight Engineer Pilot Officer Windsor Thomas Henry Gale.

Photo of the crew - PO Gale bottom right- Airwar over Denmark

The bodies of the crew, initially buried by German soldiers, were rediscovered in 1947. They were reburied in the Arestrup Kirkegård cemetery. The priest conducting the service concluded his speech for the fallen with the words: Now we will lay to rest our unknown friends.

International Find a Grave

A memorial stone was erected in Torstedlund Forest, in the western part of Rold Forest, where the Liberator had crashed.

Memorial Stone - Rebildporten

Two and a half weeks after the plane was shot down by the Germans, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies on 8 May 1945.

RAF Leuchars - Wikipedia

RAF Leuchars Remembered - Scottish Saltire Aircrew Association 

Flight Over Kattegat - BBC 

Consolidated B-24 Liberator GR Mk VIII; KH410; PQ-N - Aviation Safety Network

Consolidated B-24 Liberator VIII -  Aviation History

Windsor Thomas Henry Gale - International Find a Grave 

B 24 GR8 KH410 crashed in Torstedlund Skov Forest -Airwar over Denmark 

World War Two in Rebild - Rebildporten

Rex Moses

Reginald Moses (Rex) was born in Sydney on 5 January 1915. His parents were Reginald John Henry Moses (1889-1936) and Agnes Campbell Thom (Fairy) (1891-1974).

When  the Second World War commenced in 1939, Rex's younger brother Ken had applied to join the Air Force but as there was a long waiting list he enlisted in the Army instead. When serving overseas Ken eventually received notification from the RAAF that he could apply to enlist but the notification was a little late. However, Rex joined the RAAF in 1943.

Prior to this Rex worked at Steelcraft Pty Ltd in Crows Nest.  They were bolt and rivet manufacturers. During the Second World War the company made munitions for the military. His employment when he enlisted was given as clerk and storeman.

On 8 January 1943 Rex enlisted as a Technical Trainee in the No 14 Repair and Salvage Unit (RSU) of the RAAF which was later renamed as the No 14 Repair and Servicing Unit. This was a maintenance unit of the RAAF, stationed in Australia, as well as on islands to the north of the country, which serviced Australian aircraft involved with defending Australia from Japanese invasion, including planes damaged by enemy fire.

Rex's service number was 74777. On the enlistment form he was described as being 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. After enlisting Rex undertook the initial training course and was then remustered to a group to train as a Flight Rigger. This training took place between 19 April and 10 July 1943. He passed successfully.

Rex spent time at a variety of locations including Bradfield Park, Geelong, Ascot Vale, Richmond (NSW) Mount Druitt, Pell and Livingston in the Northern Territory before being transferred to Townsville in Queensland on 22 May 1944. During this time he undertook a series of technical courses learning about the maintenance and repair of aircraft.

Bradfield Park

From 14 December 1944 to 10 January 1945 Rex was attached to the Operational Base Unit (OBU) at Townsville. Moving aircraft around a large sparsely populated country such as Australia created challenges in the 1940s so emergency and designated landing grounds were created to support the safe transit of aeroplanes. This resulted in a network of OBUs established to operate these airbases and provide emergency services, repairs and general servicing of aircraft.

Rex left Townsville on 8 March 1945 and travelled to the island of Morotai, a northern island of Indonesia to the west of West Papua where he arrived on 24 March. United States troops had landed on the island on 15 September 1944 and secured a perimeter around the island's airfield. The airfield perimeter was  enlarged but some Japanese forces remained on the rest of the island for the remainder of the war.

Base at Morotai Island

The Allied Airforce base on the island aimed to secure the island as a safe base so that the Allies could liberate the Philippines from the Japanese.

RAAF Kittyhawks at Morotai Island

On Morotai Island Rex serviced the Allied planes that flew from the airbase as well as repairing planes damaged by enemy fire.

Rex returned to Sydney at the end of the war. Rex's rank at the time of his discharge on 12 February 1946 was Leading Aircraftman. He returned to work at Steelcraft.

Airforce service records - NAA