The Airmen's Stories - Sgt. P H Murray

Patrick Hatton Murray, from Hartley, Plymouth was born in 1918, the son of Robert Kyle Murray and Ethel Emilie Murray. His father had a long career as a journalist.

PH Murray attended Plymouth and Devonport Technical College.

In 1935 he joined the Plymouth branch of the Westminster Bank, he later moved to the Exmouth branch.

He joined the RAF in September 1939 as an Airman u/t Air Gunner. After training and a posting to 5 OTU Aston Down he joined 23 Squadron, flying Blenheims at Collyweston, on 9th July 1940. He remained with them throughout the Battle.

He was killed on 8th December 1942 while serving as a Flight Sergeant with 149 Squadron, operating in Stirlings from Lakenheath.

His Stirling I, BF391 DJ-T, came down at Dobersdorf in Germany during a Gardening sortie to the Baltic.

Also lost were:

F/O MH Good

Sgt. HT Williams
Sgt. JA Clough
Sgt. CR Long
Sgt. WT Taylor
Sgt. LPJ French

Murray was 24 and is buried in Kiel War Cemetery, Germany.

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Murray’s elder brother, Lieutenant Herbert John Murray, RNVR (born 1908), was officially serving at the Plymouth training establishment, HMS Defiance, when he died on 26th November 1940. However he was part of the crew of the cargo ship, Medoc, seized from the French and loaded with ammunition.

The ship was close to the Eddystone lighthouse, off Cornwall, when it was machine-gunned and torpedoed by an enemy aircraft and quickly sank with the loss of all hands, over 40 men. Lt. Murray appears to have been the only officer on board and was therefore, presumably, in command. He is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

The eldest brother, Leslie Robert Murray, born 1907, spent his entire career with the Westminster Bank, rising to Company Secretary. He retired in the 1960s. At the time of his father's death in 1947 he was an assistant secretary at the bank. He died in 1985.