Walter Morison

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Walter McDonald Morison
Flight Lieutenant
UnitNo. 103 Squadron RAF
Battles/warsWorld War II

Flight Lieutenant Walter McDonald Morison (26 November 1919 – 26 March 2009) was a Royal Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war and was sent to Colditz for attempting to steal an enemy aircraft during the Second World War
.

Early life

He was born at

Beckenham, Kent. While in his first year at Trinity College, Cambridge, the Second World War began; he volunteered the same day.[1]

Royal Air Force service

Morison joined the Royal Air Force at the outbreak of war in September 1939, and was trained as a pilot (he already knew how to fly a glider[1]). He was commissioned as a pilot officer on 30 November 1940[2] and assigned to No. 241 Squadron, flying Westland Lysanders.[1] He was soon transferred to a training unit as an instructor, before joining No. 103 Squadron in May 1942.[1]

On the night of 5/6 June 1942, while flying a Wellington bomber on his third mission and the first as captain,[3] he was hit by another Wellington X3339 from 156 Squadron, piloted by Sgt Guy Chamberlin RAFVR. He was the sole survivor of the five-man crew.[4] Coincidentally, Morison had been Chamberlin's instructor at RAF Lossiemouth around the beginning of 1942.[5] All the crew of X3339 were killed and are buried in the same row at the Reischwald Forest War Cemetery near Kleve in Germany.[6]

He became a prisoner of war (POW) and was sent to Stalag Luft III at Sagan. He was promoted to flight lieutenant on 30 November 1942 whilst being held as a POW.[7]

On 12 June 1943, Morison and 23[1] or 25 others escaped from the camp during a delousing break. Twenty-two prisoners left the camp with two "guards", actually two fellow POWs in bogus German uniforms.[1] Once outside, the group split up. The others were quickly recaptured, but he and Flight Lieutenant Lorne Welch, wearing fake uniforms, walked to a nearby airfield and attempted to steal an aircraft, a Junkers W 34.[1] They had to abandon the attempt when the rightful crew appeared to fly away the aircraft. The next day, they returned and tried to steal a biplane, but were caught and eventually sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz.[1][8]

He was liberated from Colditz by the American army in April 1945.

Post-war

Following the war, Morison qualified as a chartered accountant at the

Morison International[9]
a global association of professional service firms (accountants, auditors, tax and business advisers).

He wrote an account of his life during the war, Flak and Ferrets - One Way to Colditz.

Morison died on 26 March 2009.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Flight Lieutenant Walter Morison". The Telegraph. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  2. ^ "No. 35028". The London Gazette. 31 December 1940. p. 7300.
  3. ISBN 9781473820432
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-904597-89-9
    . page 119
  5. ^ According to David Chamberlin (Guy's Son) following a meeting with Walter Morison and with reference to his service log-book.
  6. ^ "Casualty Details: Chamberlin, Guy Hesketh". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  7. ^ "No. 35936". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 March 1943. p. 1191.
  8. ISBN 978-1-874767-10-7
    .
  9. ^ Walter Morison November 1919 - March 2009

External links

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