WHITEHEAD, Raymond Henry
| Service Number: | 29450 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 December 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Unit: | Not yet discovered |
| Born: | Subiaco, Western Australia, 5 November 1911 |
| Home Town: | Merredin, Merredin, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Hines Hill Primary School, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Illness (Lobar Pneumonia), Ascot Vale, Ascot Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 22 September 1941, aged 29 years |
| Cemetery: |
Footscray Cemetery, Victoria Australian War Memorial |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kings Park Western Australia State War Memorial, Merredin War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement 29450 | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Dec 1940: | Enlisted 29450 |
Help us honour Raymond Henry Whitehead's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
One of three brothers who served in WWII, Aircraftman I Raymond Henry Whitehead (Service No:29450) enlisted in the RAAF on 11 December 1940 at No 4 Recruiting Centre Perth as an Aircraftman I - mustered as Trainee Mechanic, re mustered as Flight Mechanic. ACI Whitehead was posted to 1 Engineering School 'On 24 August 1941, Aircraftman Class I Whitehead, a Trainee Flight Mechanic, was admitted to No 2 RAAF Hospital Ascot Vale, suffering from Lobar Pneumonia and died on 22 September 1941' (Aviation Heritage Museum).
Ray was born in Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia in 1911, second of six children of William Henry Whitehead (b1879 in Adelaide, South Australia) and Edith Lillian Hitchin (b1882 in Gladstone, South Australia). William was a Confectioner in 1909 when he and Edith married in Perth - and settled at Nangeenan via Merredin, where they raised their family and William was a Farmer. William and Edith remained in the Merredin district, moving to Hines Hill and then Belka, where William was a Farmer. Following Edith's death in 1940, William remarried and lived briefly in South Australia with his second wife Gertrude, before returning to Western Australia in 1949.
Ray worked as Farm Labourer, and was a Farmer with his brother in Merredin when he enlisted in the RAAF in 1940.
Click images to start slideshow.