GORRIE, Peter Creighton
| Service Number: | 407168 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 20 July 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Flying Officer |
| Last Unit: | No. 2 Squadron (RAAF) |
| Born: | Peterborough, South Australia , 6 June 1918 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Scotch College, Adelaide |
| Occupation: | Accountant |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Netherlands East Indies, 12 January 1942, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Commemorated on the Ambon Memorial, Ambon Memorial, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia. Column 8. |
| Memorials: | Adelaide WW2 Wall of Remembrance, Ambon Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, No 2 Squadron RAAF Roll of Honour, Renmark District Roll of Honour WW2 |
World War 2 Service
| 20 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Aircraftman, 407168, Aircrew Training Units, Adelaide | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Jul 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 407168 | |
| 17 Mar 1941: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, 407168, No. 2 Squadron (RAAF), Australia's Northern Periphery | |
| 7 Dec 1941: | Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flying Officer, 407168, No. 2 Squadron (RAAF), Air War SW Pacific 1941-45, Aircraft Lockheed Hudson A16-12 captained by Peter Gorrie was lost in action in combat with Japanese fighter aircraft over Kema Bay in the Celebes Islands in what is now Indonesia (at that time the Netherlands East Indies). | |
| Date unknown: | Involvement |
A brother's account to their mother............
http://pigott-gorrie.blogspot.com.au/2009/04/in-memoriam-12-jan-1942-fo-peter-c.html
"...I'll start on Saturday - the squadron went out but didn't have any luck so returned again on the Sunday, and made a raid on Menado, and Peter was the only one to score - he got two direct hits on a light cruiser and blew the stern damn near off it; & after all the bombing was over, they formed up to return and were attacked by Jap fighters.
"The other 2 planes in the squadron dived down to sea level, but Peter stayed up and gave fight, and got a Jap plane, and probably a second. They then returned to their base; and when returning on the Monday morning when they ran into half a dozen of the latest Jap fighters, who were lying in wait for them.
"The others dived, but Peter went straight into them, thinking he could drop his load onto the target before they got him (that is his mates' opinion). Anyway, he downed another fighter before they sent him out of control into the sea. It is reckoned by F/O WHYTE who saw it, that the impact of plane and sea would have killed all the crew instantaneously. WHYTE said it was pure guts that sent Peter down; he didn't know what fear meant; a ten-to-one chance of coming out of it. What is left of the squadron seem to think a hell of a lot of young Pete's actions, and speak very highly of him.
"It's a hell of a blow, old thing, but at least we are very lucky to be able to hear so much of what did happen..."
[Peter's elder brother, Robert Maclagan (Bob) GORRIE, SX210, Sergeant, 2/14th Field Regiment (KIA in 1945) , in camp at Knight Cliffs, Darwin, in a letter to their sister Betty PIGOTT in Adelaide.]
Submitted 20 June 2016 by Steve Larkins
Biography contributed by Steve Larkins
Peter Gorrie's brother Robert was later to be killed in action with the 2nd/14th Field Regiment in New Britain.
Their father, working as a ship's surgeon on a British Merchant ship, was buried at sea following a Japanese air attack off Singapore in February 1942
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