Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

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.]