Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Warrant Officer Gerald Whiteford (Service No:416170) initially served in the Militia for two and a half years as Corporal with 3rd Battalion HQ Goulbourn, and enlisted in the RAAF at No 1 Recruiting Centre Melbourne on 31 March 1941 as an Aircraftman II - mustered as Air Crew. Promoted to Sergeant, he served in Canada with No 1 Y Depot Halifax (8 August 1941 - 8 January 1942). Flight Sergeant/Pilot Whiteford served in the UK, Malta and the Middle East as a Spitfire Pilot, and on 11 August 1942 was Pilot of a Spitfire when he suffered minor injuries in a forced landing at Berwick in the UK. Promoted to Warrant Officer in the UK on 19 June 1943, W/O Whiteford was attached to 81 Squadron, served with 453 Squadron and No 129 Squadron, and was attached to 21 PTC at Discharge on 5 June 1945.

Gerald was born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1920, youngest of two children of Gerald Whiteford Snr (b1879 in Orange, New South Wales) and Annie Theresa Horan (b1893 in Ireland). Gerald Snr joined the Public Service in Sydney in 1897 - as a Junior Clerk in the Treasury (Colonial Tresurer's Department) - one of the first Australian Public Servants. At Federation in 1901, he was asked by Australia's first Prime Minister (Sir Edmund Barton) to join the Commonwealth Public Service, and was one of the first members of the Department of External Affairs. Gerald Snr and Annie married in 1915 in Melbourne, where Gerald was Secretary of the Federal Parliamentary Committee on Public Works. He was described as 'The linguist of the Federal Service is Mr Gerald Whiteford, whose hobby it is to juggle with French, Italian, German, Spanish, Malay and Esperanto - not to mention his native English and a smattering of Russian' (Trove; 1923). Gerald Snr and Annie settled in Canberra, where Gerald Snr was a Public Servant.

Born in Melbourne, Victoria in 1920, Gerald attended Canberra High School where he won Blues for Football, Tennis, Cricket and Hockey, and was fluent in French. He joined the Public Service, and in 1940 was in Port Augusta in South Australia as a Clerk with Commonwealth Railways. Following his Discharge from the RAAF, Gerald settled in Canberra and work as a Commonwealth Public Servant with the Department of External Territories. In 1944 in Brisbane, Gerald married Catherine (Kit) McMaster (b1919 in Rockhampton, QLD) - Kit was working as a Typist. Gerald and Kit settled in Canberra until their divorce in 1950 - Kit moved to Nerang QLD and worked as a Typist. Gerald, a member of the West Canberra Sub Branch of the RSL, the Barton Sub Branch of the RSS and AILA, and the Canberra Workmen's Club, died in 1963. Kit died in 1988.