Flt Sgt Rawdon Hume Middleton VC

[Adrian Roberts]

I mentioned Flt Sgt RH Middleton RAAF in the thread on Newton VC, but he certainly deserves a thread of his own. His feat is one of the most moving examples of human endurance that I know of.

"Ron" Middleton was born near Sydney on 22nd July 1916, and worked as a "Jackaroo" on the Wee Wang sheep station, near Brogan Gate NSW.

On the night of 28th November 1942 he was captain of a Stirling bomber BF372 of 149 sqdn, on his 29th mission. They were to attack the Fiat works at Turin, which meant a flight across the Alps, four hours each way. Stirlings had limited altitude performance and only four out of the seven even managed to cross the Alps.

Over the target, the aircraft was hit several times by anti-aircraft fire. A shell exploded in the cockpit. The windscreen was smashed. Middleton's right eye was torn from it's socket, his jaw was smashed, and he had more wounds in his body and legs. He lost consciousness temporarily, and his second pilot, Flt Sgt LA Hyder, who was also seriously wounded, managed to regain control at 800 feet and drop the bombs, before receiving first aid from the other crew.

Middleton determined to bring his crew back to the UK. For four hours, in great pain and barely able to see, he stayed at the controls, back over the Alps in the dark; only the fact that his blood froze in his wounds in the 200mph blast through the windscreen prevented him from losing consciousness.

They eventually staggered over the English coast with five minutes of fuel remaining. He ordered his crew to bale out, and five of them did so and survived, but the front gunner and flight engineer stayed to help their captain. Middleton knew that if he baled out at that point the aircraft would crash into densely-populated areas. He steered the aircraft out over the sea off Dymchurch, and he must have ordered the last two crew to bale out because they were found in the sea with their parachutes open; sadly they had died of exposure. Middleton went into the sea with the aircraft; his body was washed ashore at Dover on 1st February.

He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. [The Wikipedia entry, which is not my sole reference, says that he was posthumously promoted to pilot officer, but I had not heard that this was done in the British armed forces, and I would prefer confirmation of this]

The full crew were:

F/S RH Middleton RAAF pilot +
F/S LA Hyder 2/pilot
P/O GR Royde Observer
P/O NE Skinner W/Op
Sgt JE Jeffery F/Eng +
Sgt SJ Mackie F/Gnr +
F/S D Cameron M/U/Gnr
Sgt HW Gough R/Gnr

Royde was awarded a DFC, Hyder, Cameron and Gough DFMs. Sadly Jeffery and Mackie could not be given awards due to the posthumousness rules.

[spidge]

Seems he was promoted Adrian. One of the grave photos I do not have.
(nick down and get it for me in your lunch hour please) He was also the great nephew of one of our most noted early explorers (Hamilton Hume)

MIDDLETON, RAWDON HUME (Victoria Cross)
Pilot Officer
402745
29/11/1942
26
Royal Australian Air Force
Australian
Row D. Grave 1.
BECK ROW (ST. JOHN) CHURCHYARD
UK
Suffolk



Roll of Honour circular
http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/awm108/013/013578.pdf

[Antipodean Andy]

Meant to do the same, AR, but got way laid by, of all things, work! Despite his formidable strength of will to stay at the controls, what amazes me the most is how long it took for his body to be washed ashore. Very sad.

[morse1001]

Nice to see SNCO aircrew being recognised for their bravery. I would be interested to find out more about this promotion because I knew the japanese did it but never heard of it in he RAF!

[spidge]

CONSIDERED THE FINEST ACT OF VALOUR IN THE AWARD OF THE VICTORIA CROSS WORLD WAR 2

from: http://users.tpg.com.au/adsls7ld/middleton.html

This award was regarded after the war as possibly the finest V.C. of the Second World War and his courage moved an R.A.F. commentator at the time to write: "It doe not seem possible that even death could have had the heart to seek out and destroy such tenacious, valiant and enduring courage…No man will know what force uplifted that tortured body in its last struggle for the lives and liberty of a faithful crew. They had urged him to abandon ship over France while strength was still in him, but he refused to leave them prisoners. Rather, he elected, in that inner wisdom with which suffering transcendentalizes the mind, that in the balance their fit lives against his maimed one were the thing for which he must fight and plan with his last strength.
In proof that his plan succeeded there are now in this country five men ready to fight and fly again. They have in their hearts the memory of perhaps the greatest captain of aircraft under whom any crew will ever have the honour to serve, and of a front gunner and engineer to whom comradeship and company of that captain meant more than the certainty of safety, and who determined to be with him to the end as long as any faint hope of his rescue remained. They stuck to him to the last. …In such men as these is the finest inspiration ever sent to us as people to use our minds and our limbs - not in the same way, for only to the immortals is given such perfection of service - but for the same purpose, and in order that in our victory the foul indignity of war may be wiped forever from the earth."

[Antipodean Andy]

perhaps the greatest captain of aircraft under whom any crew will ever have the honour to serve, and of a front gunner and engineer to whom comradeship and company of that captain meant more than the certainty of safety

Undoubtably.

[Adrian Roberts]

Thanks for your quote Spidge; this is a fine and inspirational piece of writing.

what amazes me the most is how long it took for his body to be washed ashore. Very sad

Unfortunately thats the way the tides work in the English Channel. It might also be to do with how long a seat harness takes to disintegrate in the sea. Eugene Esmonde's body was also not washed ashore for several months.

Nice to see SNCO aircrew being recognised for their bravery. I would be interested to find out more about this promotion because I knew the japanese did it but never heard of it in he RAF!

I'm glad Morse also hadn't heard of this! It must certainly have been very rare.

One of the grave photos I do not have.
(nick down and get it for me in your lunch hour please)

Unfortunately I never have occasion to go to Suffolk. Its not that far away, maybe a couple of hours drive, but in England that is a big deal because everything is on a smaller scale than in Australia, and for those of us who live south of the Thames, anything North of the Thames is a different country! I've spent more of my life on the European Continent than North of the Thames. The RAF Museum and the Shuttleworth Collection and Duxford are the only interesting places up there. (Now wait for Morse and Kitty to read this )
But seriously, I have taken photos of the graves of some of my other heroes, mainly on the Western Front, and if I am anywhere near Suffolk, Middleton's grave would be high on my list.

[spidge]

Originally Posted by Adrian Roberts

Thanks for your quote Spidge; this is a fine and inspirational piece of writing.

But seriously, I have taken photos of the graves of some of my other heroes, mainly on the Western Front, and if I am anywhere near Suffolk, Middleton's grave would be high on my list.

I was only joking.

[morse1001]

Originally Posted by Adrian Roberts

Thanks for your quote Spidge; this is a fine and inspirational piece of writing.



Unfortunately thats the way the tides work in the English Channel. It might also be to do with how long a seat harness takes to disintegrate in the sea. Eugene Esmonde's body was also not washed ashore for several months.



I'm glad Morse also hadn't heard of this! It must certainly have been very rare.



Unfortunately I never have occasion to go to Suffolk. Its not that far away, maybe a couple of hours drive, but in England that is a big deal because everything is on a smaller scale than in Australia, and for those of us who live south of the Thames, anything North of the Thames is a different country! I've spent more of my life on the European Continent than North of the Thames. The RAF Museum and the Shuttleworth Collection and Duxford are the only interesting places up there. (Now wait for Morse and Kitty to read this )
But seriously, I have taken photos of the graves of some of my other heroes, mainly on the Western Front, and if I am anywhere near Suffolk, Middleton's grave would be high on my list.

Ahem! There is the Museum of Flight at east Fortune! Its still growing! The annual airshow is a bit of a let down but its still worth a visit. Oh! and yes! you can get a sarnie from the cafe which is own by one of "the fat ladies"!

[Kyt]

Originally Posted by Adrian Roberts

He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. [The Wikipedia entry, which is not my sole reference, says that he was posthumously promoted to pilot officer, but I had not heard that this was done in the British armed forces, and I would prefer confirmation of this]

It was indeed done a fair bit. When Spidge was doing his death by rank comparisons, I posted them on rafcommands, and was told that the rank as held on the CWGC was not always indicative of the rank that they held at the time of their death.

There were a number of reasons:

1) For officer ranks, the CWGC makes no differentiation between given ranks, temporary ranks and acting ranks. So if an individual is listed as Squadron Leader, one would need to go through the London Gazette to check promotions, and what type they were. However, temporary ranks were not usually gazetted, causing a fair bit of confusion for anyone researching an individual. For ORs, it was either because the paperwork hadn't caught up or as a reward.

2) Commonwealth and Allied personnel who were not serving in British units were not usually LGed, so to find out their promotions etc one would need to go to their country of origin. Australia is the best served for government databases, and so one could find a fair bit of info. Unfortunately, the other countries are more difficult to check

3) In some cases a posthumous promotion was the only way of recognising an individual because, as you state, Adrian, most medals could not be awarded.

4) We also don't know whether, in this case, the promotion was a direct award for his bravery or that the paperwork had already been completed and was being processed. His service file has not been digitised yet and so I cannot check.


However, he was definately promoted as evidenced by the fact that his citation states Sergeant and his CWGC/Australian Nominal Roll state Pilot Officer.