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This story was gathered and submitted to the WW2 Peoples war by Oliver Murphy

Thomas Alexander Gray Squadron Leader,Royal Air Force
Died 12 February 1942

Tommy Gray was the son of William and Eleanor Gray of Rockview, Sutton (and later of Rathfarnham), County Dublin. He attended Belvedere College, Dublin, for only two years (1927-29), having attended ‘Marino’ before then. From exam results in The Archive we may ascertain that he was a diligent worker and a very intelligent young man, with a particular aptitude for mathematics and the sciences. But he is not recorded as having taken part in any of the plays or debates, nor on any of the leading teams in sport.

He left Belvedere to study dentistry at the Royal College of Surgeons, and qualified in 1936. He owned his own practice on Dame Street, and was reputedly quite successful. However, he packed it all up and left to join the Royal Air Force in 1938, where he rose through the ranks to become a squadron leader. He was transferred to the Far East, where he was part of the vanguard defending the Malay peninsula against the Japanese advance. He fought in Kuala Lumpur and over Penang. Finally he was sent to defend Singapore, the last stronghold of the British forces who had been overwhelmed by the rapidly advancing Japanese.

At first, it was not absolutely clear how he died. In his obituary in the 1943 Belvederian, it was written that he was "Lost in action in the skies over Singapore, making the ultimate sacrifice flying over the great naval fortress." A year later, when more substantial information was available, another obituary gives the true facts: that Tommy was killed at sea during the evacuation from Singapore on Thursday 12 February 1942. Details are given in a letter from a fellow-officer to Tommy Gray’s parents:

…your son was killed while crossing from Singapore to Java. Unfortunately a bomb hit his ship and penetrated into his cabin, where it exploded. It was very bad luck as nobody else was even hurt and the ship reached Java quite safely. Tom was buried at sea.

Squadron Leader Gray was a personal friend of my wife’s and mine. … I only wish that I could have spoken to you personally about him. I can only say in this short note that he was beloved by all who knew him, as an officer, Catholic and man - he was as fine a character as one could wish to meet.

Squadron Leader (#23244) Tommy Gray was, we believe, 29 years old when he died. He was buried at sea in the Straits of Molucca, and is commemorated at the Kranji War Memorial in Singapore, where about 4500 servicemen who died there in 1942 are either buried or commemorated

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