VICTORIA CROSSES
AWARDED TO MISSING AIRMEN HEROIC ATTACK ON BRIDGE. OVER THE ALBERT CANAL. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. LONDON, June 8. Victoria Crosses have been awarded to Flying-Officer Donald Edward Garland and Sergeant Thomas Gray, both posted missing. They were the pilot and observer respectively of the leading plane of a formation of five which successfully attacked a vital bridge over the Albert Canal which was allowing the Germans to enter Belgium. Orders were issued that the bridge must be destroyed at all costs. A squadron of the advanced strikingforce undertook the task and the crews were seelctcd by drawing lots. Only one of the live planes returned. Flying-Officer Garland was born in Wicklow. Eire, in 1918, his home being in Yorkshire. Sergeant Gray was born in 1914. Much of the success of the attack on the bridge was due to them, as they led the formation in such a manner that the whole formation was able successfully to attack the target, despite the heavy subsequent loss.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19400610.2.42
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1940, Page 5
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167VICTORIA CROSSES Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1940, Page 5
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