A Brilliant Fighting Spirit
Only one Victoria Cross was awarded to a fighter pilot of the RAF during the Second World War. Similarly, only one was awarded to a fighter pilot of the Fleet Air Arm – a posthumous decoration for action against the Japanese in 1945.
The Second World War was one week away from ending with when Canadian pilot Robert ‘Hammy’ Gray earned his VC for an attack on Japanese shipping at Onagawa Bay in the Miyagi Prefecture of Japan. Already, though, Gray had received two Mentions in Dispatches (MID) for courageous actions and received another award for gallantry.
Later, on 28 July 1945, just prior to his VC action he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for air attacks on targets in Japan. But it was his final action which led to a Victoria Cross.
Gray was born in British Columbia and after a university education he enlisted in the RCNVR at Calgary, Alberta.
Gray initially joined 757 Naval Air Squadron in England, but was then assigned to the African theatre, flying Hurricanes for operations with 795, 803, and 877 Squadrons, spending two years in Kenya.
Having trained to fly the Vought F4U Corsairs in 1944, he was assigned to 1841 NAS, based on HMS Formidable when he took part in the unsuccessful Operation Goodwood raids against the Tirpitz, in Norway. These were the actions for which he gained Mentions in Dispatches. Then, in April 1945, HMS Formidable joined the British Pacific Fleet in the invasion of Okinawa.
By July 1945, the carrier was involved in strikes on the Japanese mainland, and on 18 July, Gray led a strafing mission against airfields in the Tokyo area. On 24 July, he led another flight to the inland sea which damaged one merchant ship, damaged two seaplane bases, and one airbase. Gray aided in sinking a Japanese destroyer near Tokyo on 28 July. This was the action for which he was awarded the DSC.
Finally, on 9 August 1945, Lieutenant Gray (flying a Vought F4U Corsair) led an attack on Japanese vessels, sinking the Etorofu-class escort ship Amakusa before his aircraft crashed into the bay.
The citation for his VC was gazetted on 13 November 1945, with Gray one of the last Canadians to die during the war and the second to last Canadian to be awarded the VC - the last to Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski, although this was awarded in relation to an incident that occurred before Gray’s.
Incredibly, the Japanese were so impressed by Gray’s courage that they constructed a memorial to the memory of this brave Canadian.