LAW, Colin William

LAW, Colin William – A Southern Downs Veteran

CONFLICT : WWII
SERVICE NO : 414048
RANK : Flight Officer
UNIT : 5 Communication Unit
ENLISTMENT DATE : 20/07/1941
AGE : 20
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT : Brisbane, Queensland
PLACE OF BIRTH : Blackall, Queensland
RELIGION : Church of England
OCCUPATION : Clerk
DATE OF DEATH : 14/02/1946
PLACE OF BURIAL : Townsville, Queensland

MEMORIALS : Warwick State High School Roll of Honour 1939-1945, Warwick The Fallen 1939-1945, Warwick War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour

View this person’s Service File : LAW, Colin William

NOTES : Colin William Law was known to his family as Billy. His parents were William James and Frances Law of Blackall. Billy suffered from ill health as a small child, and because of this he went to live with his grandparents who resided in Grafton Street, Warwick.

At one time his grandfather William Law who worked as a carpenter, was called upon to fix the shingles of St Mark’s Anglican Church after a particularly bad storm. Over fifty years later, when the church was undertaking further work to the roof, a shingle was found bearing Colin’s grandfather’s name and the date May 6, 1884. This shingle is now preserved and is mounted on the interior wall together with a plaque.

Colin attended school at Warwick East and Warwick State High School. He left his mark as a good footballer at the school. He was also an accomplished musician and played the saxophone with a band which performed at different functions around the Central West of Queensland.

With the advent of the Second World War, Colin enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Force on July 20, 1941. He survived the war and was based at the Garbutt air field in Townsville flying local flights to collect military personnel and return them to base.

The following entry is from the operations record book for February 14, 1946.

Aircraft reported missing February 14, 1946 with following personnel, pilot FO Law, navigator Flt Sgt JB Crawford and passenger Flt Sgt GM Geisel of 27 OBU Cairns

A search was conducted, but it was not until February 18 when a searching Catalina sighted the missing plane. All three occupants were found dead at the scene. It was believed the plane had crashed due to bad visibility.

Flight Officer LAW, Colin William is buried in the Townsville War Cemetery, Queensland.

Read about Southern Downs Military History here.