These profiles and stories were donated to the RAAF Museum by the Gold Coast Branch of the Air Crew Association.

Service Profile: Murray May

Murray A. May (ACA 18410) served in the Royal Australian Air Force as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner (WOP/AG) during World War 2, from December 1940 to October 1945, and was discharged as a Warrant Officer.

After Initial Training School (ITS) at Bradfield Park, New South Wales (No. 9 Course), he travelled to Canada under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) to train at No. 3 Wireless School at Winnipeg, followed by Bombing and Gunnery School at Moss Bank, Saskatchewan. He was then posted to the UK for further training at Cranwell before being posted to RAF No. 53 Squadron for operational flying duties with RAF Coastal Command in the European theatre of war.

During Murray's service, he flew in Menasco Moths, Fairey Battles and Lockheed Hudsons.

His flying career was cut short on 8 April 1942, shot down by a shipping convoy when over the Island of Sylt (North Frisian Islands), near the border of Denmark and Germany.

Murray remained a prisoner-of-war until being liberated on 11 April 1945 after the infamous German-enforced 'Lamsdorf March'.

Murray's post-war progress is detailed as an example of a successful adjustment to civilian life of a WW2 veteran of limited pre-service education with a determination to overcome the vicissitudes of his POW experiences. He matriculated under the War Service Matriculation Scheme in 1947 before attending the University of Queensland to graduate as a Bachelor of Dental Science in 1952. The call of service saw him once again in RAAF uniform in 1952 as an officer in the Medical Branch from which, holding the rank of Squadron Leader, he resigned in 1958 and entered private practice at Southport on Queensland's Gold Coast.

In 1966, Murray attended the University of Manitoba at Winnipeg, Canada, to take a Master of Science degree. In 1967–68 he took out a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree at Dalhouse University, Halifax, Canada. He then spent two years on the staff of the University of Maryland Dental School, USA, as Assistant Professor before entering private practice in Maryland for a further two years.

Murray then returned to Canada and was in private practice in Vancouver, Canada, from 1972 to 1981 before returning to Australia. He retired from active practice in 1983.

As it Happened: Oh, to be in Aircrew! (108K PDF)