213350 P/O. Gordon Campbell Shortland DFMRoyal Air Force 76 Squadron from:Marrickville, Sydney, Australia My father meet Gordon Shortland, MD in the early 1960's. Until Gordon's death last month, October 2013, it was not known, by dad, that he flew in the RAF during WWII. I have done some research from the Australian War Memorial and his DFM citation states he did 34 night & 6 daylight 'Operational Sorties', about 210 hrs and only had 1 (G) Outstanding sorties or incidents - "Laval 9.6.44 Bombed in rain below cloud at 450 feet hit by bomb fragmentation".
He also may have trained as 2nd pilot.
Other raids start with - Etompes 20 Sept 1943,
- Frankfurt 20 Dec 1943,
- Berlin 24(29) Dec 1943,
- Magdeburg 21 Jan 1944,
- Berlin 28 Jan 1944,
- Le Mans 13 Mar 1944,
- Stuttgart 15 Mar 1944,
- Frankfurt 18 MAr 1944,
- Dusseldorf 22 Apr 1944
- Karlsrune 24 Apr 1944,
- Villeneune(?) St. George 26 Apr 1944,
- Montzen 27 Apr 1944,
- Arheres 30Apr 1944,
- Molines 1 May 1944, Mantes-Gassicourt 6 May 1944,
- Berneval 9 May 1944,
- Lens 10 May 1944,
- Boologne 19 May 1944,
- Orleans 22 May 1944,
- BourgLeopold 28 MAy 1944,
- Martinuast (F.D'urville) 1 June 1944,
- Trappes 2 June 1944,
- Mount Fleury 5 June 1944,
- St.Lo 6 June 1944,
- Jurisy 7 June 1944,
- Laval 9 June 1944 (as previously noted),
- Longueau 12 June 1944,
- St.Martin L'Hortier 1 July 1944,
- Chateau Bernardre 9 July 1944,
- Thiverny 12 July 1944,
- Nocourt 15 July 1944,
- Caen(H2) 18 July 1944,
- Acquet 18 July 1944,
- Bottrop(Essen) 21 July 1944,
- Kiel 23 July 1944,
- Stuttgart 24 July 1944,
- Foret del Vieppe 28 July 1944,
- Villers Bocage 30 July 1944,
- Weimars Cappell 11 Aug 1944.
Some of the writing is fairly hard to make out so I have done my best, sorry to the French if I have misspelt some places.
If there is anybody who remembers him, I know that he was 90 when he died, so the chances are small, please contact me. His 2 surviving sons would like to know a little more, so would I.
|