John David MATTHEWS

John David MATTHEWS Update Details

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MATTHEWS, John David

Service Number:	401313
Enlisted:	1 February 1941
Last Rank:	Squadron Leader
Last Unit:	No. 454 Squadron (RAAF)
Born:	Sale, Victoria, Australia, 30 June 1917
Home Town:	Sale, Gippsland, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Grazier
Died:	Sale, Victoria, Australia, 9 March 2000, aged 82 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials:

World War 2 Service

1 Feb 1941:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader, 401313
1 Nov 1941:	Embarked Royal Australian Air Force, Pilot Officer, 401313, embarked Sydney for Middle East
23 Oct 1943:	Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant, No. 454 Squadron (RAAF)
1 Jan 1945:	Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader
13 Oct 1945:	Embarked Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader, 401313
16 Mar 1946:	Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron Leader, 401313

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Squadron Leader John David Matthews (Service No:40131) enlisted in the RAAF at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne as an Aircraftman and was posted to No 1 Initial Training School (ITS) Somers. ACII Matthews had served from 1939 as a Trooper with 13th Light Horse Regiment (Sale). Promoted to Leading Aircraftman in March 1941, he was attached to No 2 Air Observers' School (AOS) Mt Gambier, No 2 Bombing and Gunnery School (BAGS) Port Pirie and No 2 Air Navigation School (ANS). On 1 November 1941 when he embarked from Sydney for the Middle East, he was a Pilot Officer qualified to fly diverse aircraft, including Avro Anson, Vickers Wellington, de Haviland Dragon and Martin 187 Baltimore. In December 1942 he was promoted to Flying Offier, serving in Kenya, the Middle East and the Meditteranean, and with 55 Squadron and 454 Sqaudron in Iraq. In 1944 Flight Lieutenant Matthews was attached to Air Force HQ Meditteranean, and as Squadron Leader in 1945 he served in the Middle East with RAF Gianallis and RAF Ein Shemer before embarking from the Middle East for Melbourne on 13 October 1945. Squadron Leader Matthews was attached to 3 Advanced Flying Unit (AFU) at Discharge on 16 March 1946.

John was born in Sale, Victoria in 1917, second of six children of Albert James Matthews (b1882 in Ballarat, Victoria) and Gertrude Elizabeth Thomas (b1889 in Melbourne, Victoria). Both Albert and John were in Sale (Albert was a Grazier and Gertrude a Clerk) when they married in 1914 in Sale, where they settled and raised their family and Albert was a Grazier.

John was a Grazier in Sale before enlisting. Following his Discharge, in 1948 in Adelaide, South Australia he married Lorna Margaret Edgerley (b1920 in Adelaide, South Australia) - Lorna worked in Sale as a Teacher at St Anne's School. John and Lorna settled in Sale where they raised their family and John was a Grazier. John died in 2000 and Lorna in 2005

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