Service No. O210034 (402161)

Date of Birth: 21 Jan 1919

Place of Birth: MOSMAN, NSW

Date of Enlistment: 24 Jun 1940

Date of Discharge: 30 Jan 1941

Rank: Leading Aircraftman

Date of Death: 21 Mar 2008

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An excerpt from “Alamein to the Alps” by Mark Lax – Correspondence between Bill Hull and George Gray as follows -

 

“Sergeant Bill Hull an observer, remembered the circuitous, almost tourist route they took to get to Mosul32 … We left 70 OTU Nakuru by passenger train for Uganda, our destination Kampala on Lake Victoria en route passing the source of the White Nile, the Rippon Falls – from Kampala to Cairo by BEA flying boat setting down at several historic places eg. Valley of the Kings and Khartoum then traveled Cairo to Damascus by train. We left Damascus by the then world renowned ‘Nairn Bus’. Because of the heat we traveled across the desert at night to Baghdad. The drivers who were probably Syrian, steered by the stars. There was no road.. I checked to see if the driver or drivers had a compass or sextant but proceeded on to Mosul I don’t remember – maybe by flying carpet! Bill remembered that crews were issued a piece of paper printed in several languages to be carried with them at all times when flying. I was given what was colloquially known as a ‘Ghouli chit’ (I am not sure of the spelling but the term referred to one’s testes). It was written in several dialects of the local tribes who were a bit ‘off beat’ to crashed airmen. The chit identified us as members of His Britannic Majesty’s Forces. On returning us of sound body and mind they would receive a large amount of Dinars.