Hector Bertram Gray, (6 June 1911 – 18 December 1943) was an officer of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, and a member of the

British Army Aid Group The British Army Aid Group (B.A.A.G.) was a paramilitary organisation for British and Allied forces in southern China during the Second World War. The B.A.A.G. was officially classified in the British Army's order of battle as an MI9 unit th ...

, who was posthumously awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...

for "most conspicuous gallantry" in resisting torture after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941.

Early life

Gray was born on 6 June 1911 in

Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a town in Kent, England, which forms a conurbation with neighbouring Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Strood and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It is the largest town in the borough of Medway and in 2020 had a populat ...

, the son of Lionel and Adela (née Duff) Gray, his father was a musician. Gray joined the

(RAF) as an aircraft apprentice at

RAF Halton Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World ...

Long distance flight

In November 1938 Gray, then a sergeant pilot with the RAF Long Range Development Flight, was acting as a radio operator/mechanic in one of three

Vickers Wellesley The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of W ...

bombers that flew non-stop for two days from

Ismailia Ismailia ( ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city had an estimated population of about 1,434,741 according to the statistics issued by the Cen ...

, Egypt, to Darwin, Australia, (7,162 mi/11,525 km) setting a world distance record. The Wellesley's record remained unbroken until November 1945 but it remains the longest by a single engined aircraft. Gray was awarded the

Air Force Medal The Air Force Medal (AFM) was a military decoration, awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned officer, comm ...

in recognition of the services he rendered to crews of the two aircraft on the long-distance record flight.

British Army Aid Group

Gray smuggled medicine into the prisoner of war camp to help the many seriously ill prisoners incarcerated there and was a conduit for news from the outside world. When the Japanese grew suspicious he was tortured and interrogated for six months but refused to divulge the names of fellow officers, such as Captain Douglas Ford of the

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment line infantry, of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of England ...

, and Colonel Lanceray Arthur Newnham of the

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

. He was executed by firing squad, with fellow prisoners, on 18 December 1943 and buried in Stanley Military Cemetery in Hong Kong. Notice of his award was published in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'' on 19 April 1946.George Cross Database Recipient
at www.gc-database.co.uk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Hector Bertram Royal Air Force officers British recipients of the George Cross Royal Air Force recipients of the George Cross Recipients of the Air Force Medal People executed by Japan by firing squad Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II 1911 births 1943 deaths Executed British people 20th-century executions by Japan British people imprisoned in Japan People from Gillingham, Kent Executed people from Kent British torture victims World War II prisoners of war held by Japan British World War II prisoners of war Burials at Stanley Military Cemetery Military personnel from Kent Japanese war crimes in Hong Kong