CROOKE, Rene Maurice
| Service Number: | O14111 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 November 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Flight Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Malvern, Victoria, Australia, 27 May 1918 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia , 15 February 1998, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 11 Nov 1940: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, O14111 | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Feb 1946: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, O14111 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Flight Lieutenant Rene Maurice Crooke (Service Nos:014111/400914) enlisted in the RAAF on 11 November 1940. On 14 March 1944 he was an A/Squadron Leader with 30 Sqaudron (Wellingtons) when he was Recommended for a Distinguished Flying Cross 'for numerous operations on Greece and Crete' London Gazette 14 April 1944; Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 20 April 1944). Flight Lieutenant Crooke was attached to 25 Squadron when he was Discharged on 21 February 1946.
Born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1918 Maurie was the fourth of five children of Robert James Crook (b1872 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria) and first wife Alice Louisa Georgette Legat (b1888 in Paris, France). Robert (a Teacher and Commercial Foreign Correspondent) and Alice married in Paris in 1907. Robert had travelled to France in 1901, where he was a Teacher and Commercial Foreign Correspondent in Paris and Spain. In 1912 Robert and Alice with their two children moved to Melbourne, Victoria and settled at Cockatoo in the Dandening, Victoria where Robert was a farmer. They had a further three children, but Alice did not cope with country life or being a wife and mother and left Robert and the children and moved to Melbourne. Robert also moved to Melbourne with the five children and worked as a Teacher and Salesman. Robert and Alice divorced in 1932 and Robert remarried.
Maurie worked in Melbourne, Victoria as a Clerk prior to his enlistment. In 1941 in Melbourne he married Natalie (Bobbi) Frances Blamey (b1918 in Melbourne, Victoria) - Bobbi worked as a Clerk. The couple divorced in a short time, and Bobbi had remarried by 1948. Following his Discharge, Maurie lived in Brisbane, QLD with his mother and worked as a Salesman. By 1954 he had re-enlisted in the RAAF and in 1957 was based in Newcastle NSW when he married Ailsa Joyce (aka Joyce) Inall (b1924 in Raymond, NSW) - Joyce was a Teacher and had lived and taught in London, England in the early 1950s. Maurie remained in the RAAF until retirement - he and Joyce lived in Newcastle and Glenbrook NSW and Werribee in Laverton Victoria before a posting to Canberra in 1970. In 1976 Maurie was registered as a Real Estate Agent in Canberra, although he was still serving in the RAAF in 1980. Maurie died in 1998. In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, Joyce was awarded an OAM 'for services to the community as a volunteer guide and researcher with the Australian War Memorial. Joyce died in 2012.