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