LEST WE FORGET
Sergeant Neal Morton GRAY
Service No: 420618
Born: Mascot NSW, 31 August 1923
Enlisted in the RAAF: 8 November 1941
Unit: No. 11 Personnel Disposal and Reception Centre, RAAF Overseas Headquarters
Died: Air Raid: Fighter Command in 1943, Bournemouth, 23 May 1943, Aged 19 Years
Buried: Bournemouth North Cemetery, Hampshire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Charles Leslie and Annie Catherine Gray, of Mascot, New South Wales, Australia.
Roll of Honour: Mascot NSW
Remembered: Panel 123, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Sergeant Gray (a Pilot) was killed on 23 May 1943, when off duty at Bournemouth. About 10 Fw190s attacked Bournemouth at 1250 hours on the 23rd May with bombs and machine gun fire. Direct hits were obtained on a number of buildings. Seven RAAF pilots all off duty were killed in the raid. One was shot when walking in a park, and the other six were killed when a building was demolished by a direct hit from a bomb.
The RAAF Members killed during the raid were:
Flight Sergeant Colin Bernard Crabbe (420453)
Flight Sergeant Ronald Franklin Fenton (412938)
Sergeant Neal Morton Gray (420618)
Flight Sergeant Allan John Kerrigan (420681)
Flight Sergeant John Francis McMahon (409848)
Sergeant George Arthur Mills (33250) Killed in a park
Flight Sergeant Vivian Lewis Pope (416993)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A 705, 166/16/89