Hector Bertram Gray, GC, AFM (6 June 1911 – 18 December 1943) was an officer of the Royal Air Force, and a member of the British Army Aid Group, who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for "most conspicuous gallantry" in resisting torture after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941.[1]
Hector Gray | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 June 1911 Gillingham, Kent, England |
| Died | 18 December 1943 (aged 32) Sham Shui Prison Camp, Japanese-occupied Hong Kong |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Royal Air Force |
| Rank | Flight lieutenant |
| Service number | 561238 44061 |
| Unit | British Army Aid Group |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
| Awards | George Cross Air Force Medal |
Early life
editGray was born on 6 June 1911 in Gillingham, Kent, the son of Lionel and Adela (née Duff) Gray, his father was a musician. Gray joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an aircraft apprentice at RAF Halton.[2]
Long distance flight
editIn November 1938 Gray, then a sergeant pilot with the RAF Long Range Development Flight, was acting as a radio operator/mechanic in one of three Vickers Wellesley bombers that flew non-stop for two days from Ismailia, Egypt, to Darwin, Australia, (7,162 mi/11,525 km) setting a world distance record. The Wellesley's record remained unbroken until November 1945 but it remains the longest by a single engined aircraft. Gray was awarded the Air Force Medal in recognition of the services he rendered to crews of the two aircraft on the long-distance record flight.[3]
British Army Aid Group
editGray smuggled medicine into the prisoner of war camp to help the many seriously ill prisoners incarcerated there and was a conduit for news from the outside world. When the Japanese grew suspicious he was tortured and interrogated for six months but refused to divulge the names of fellow officers, such as Captain Douglas Ford of the Royal Scots, and Colonel Lanceray Arthur Newnham of the Middlesex Regiment. He was executed by firing squad, with fellow prisoners, on 18 December 1943 and buried in Stanley Military Cemetery in Hong Kong.[4] Notice of his award was published in the London Gazette on 19 April 1946.[5][6]
References
edit- ^ GC Holders Archived 7 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine at www.rafweb.org
- ^ "Gallantry". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ "No. 34620". The London Gazette. 28 April 1939. p. 2830.
- ^ CWGC: Hector Gray
- ^ George Cross Database Recipient at www.gc-database.co.uk
- ^ "No. 37538". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 April 1946. p. 1967.