Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Keith Brady was born in 1923 to an Australian mother and an American father. His parents met when on holidays in Italy during the early 1920s. Keith’s mother grew up on ‘Moonbi Station’, Kootingal, a farming property just north of Tamworth, NSW. His father was raised in New York City, studied civil engineering at Cornell University, and trained as a pilot in the US Army Air Service in 1918. World War I finished in Western Europe before he saw action. He was discharged from the Air Service and commenced work with Caltex. At the time Keith was born, his father’s work was based in San Paolo, Brazil. As his parents desired him to become a US citizen, his mother went to New York to give birth.

Keith and his family moved to Sydney, Australia in 1933. His father declined a management role with Caltex, opting instead to own and operate a fruit orchard and poultry farm in the then rural suburb of Carlingford. Keith initially attended Cranbrook School, Bellevue Hill before transferring to The Kings School, Parramatta. Leaving school at the end of Year 11, he started work as a message boy at Caltex. When he reached 18 years of age, he chose to enlist in the RAAF at the suggestion of his father. Keith’s life during the war years is described in the many letters he wrote to his parents and sister, one of which follows (Note: 'D' refers to JoD Digger, the name of Keith's Lancaster Bomber):

31/7/44
Dear Mum, Dad & Betty,
It is nearly a week since I wrote to you last. During that time I have been working so hard I couldn’t write to anyone. I am on nine days leave from to-morrow & am motor cycling down to Oxford to stay with the Dates. So far now I have 9 trips, three have been daylights which you most probably have read about by now. Our last operation was “D”s 50th trip & we were a credit to the old kite. Went to Stuttgart & 15 minutes before the target I steered a course 90º off the correct one, which resulted in going over several well defended areas all on our own & eventually bombing Stuttgart 20 minutes later. Just as we finished our bombing run, Johnny Cox the rear gunner gave me an evasion manoeuvre & during it he shot down an ME109 in flames, which is the second one to be shot down in our squadron since it started as shooting them down is very hard during any combat actions or manoeuvres. It has since been confirmed & we now have a swastika painted on our nose, to-gether with 50 hats representing 1 trip each. Not a bad 50th for “D”?
Your loving son,
Keith

At the end of the war, Keith's wartime training and experience provided him with the qualifications for a career as civilian pilot. He took this option rather than returning to his clerical job at Caltex. However, opportunities for work as a pilot were limited due to the large number of RAAF pilots applying for available positions. In addition, Keith found those hiring preferred to give jobs to Australians, his US citizenship working against him. He did not realise that his wartime service made him eligible for Australian citizenship.

Keith eventually worked with Australian National Airways from 1948 to 1957. At the same time, Keith met his future wife Maureen (Peta) McManus who was an airline hostess with ANA. They married in 1949 and had three children.

In 1957, Keith successfully applied for a pilot’s position with Cathay Pacific, and he moved his family to his new home base of Hong Kong. 'Gweilos' (Westerners) based in Hong Kong at that time lived the high life in the then British Crown Colony. Upon turning the age when pilots stopped flying commercial aircraft, Keith continued his employment with Cathay Pacific as a pilot trainer and assessor until his retirement. In 1991, Keith returned to Australia to live on Queensland’s Gold Coast where he applied for and received his Australian citizenship. In 2020 during the covid pandemic, Keith moved to his son’s home on the NSW Central Coast until his frailty required spending his final months living in aged care.