Warwick Geoff Samuel Savage

Warwick Geoff Samuel Savage

Personal Information
Date of Birth	30 Oct 1908
Place of Birth	London, England
Death	27 Jun 1984, aged 75
Place of Death	Kelmscott, Western Australia
Age at Enlistment	31 years, 8 months
Description	6' 2" (1.88m) tall ; 166lbs 75.296 kg ; fair complexion ; grey eyes ; brown (scant) hair ; scar on left arm
Occupation	Engine driver
Religion	Church of England
Address	Roleystone, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Wife , Mrs. Joyce Dora Savage
Military Information
Reg Number	16995
Date of Enlistment	25 Jun 1940
Rank	Sergeant
Unit/Formation	No. 3 Squadron RAAF
Military Movement
1st Departure from Australia
Journey Dates	9 Sep 1941 ‒ 25 Sep 1941
Transport Details	. Property "Transport" (as page type) with input value "." contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process. Fremantle to Egypt
Return to Australia
Journey Dates	1 Mar 1943 ‒ 21 Mar 1943
Transport Details	. Property "Returned Transport" (as page type) with input value "." contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process. Egypt to Melbourne
Post War Details
Fate	Returned to Australia
Monument(s)	Roleystone Roll of Honour
Medals	1939-45 Star Africa Star War Medal 1939-45 Australian Service Medal 1939-45

Pre War

Held a third class steam ticket, with 12 years experience with internal combustion engines. At the time of his enlistment he was married (9 Nov 1935) to Joyce Dora (nee Parkin) with three children - Janice Margaret, Pamela Joy, and Warwick Geoffrey.

War Service

Warwick presented himself for enlistment in the RAAF on 7 Jun 1940 at the No. 4 RAAF Recruiting Centre and was accepted as a Fitter Gp IIA. On 25 Jun 1940 he joined the No. 4 Recruit Depot RAAF at Pearce airbase to undergo basic and drill training. Having overcome this hurdle he was transferred on 26 Aug 1940 to the No. 5 School of Technical Training RAAF. At the completion of his course, on 13 Dec 1940 he was transferred to the No. 1 Engineering School RAAF at Ascot Vale in Victoria to finalise his training in preparation for joining an operational unit.

Warwick was posted to No. 25 (City of Perth) Squadron RAAF on 6 Jun 1941 where he gained operational experience before being transferred on 22 Aug 1941 to the No. 5 Embarkation Depot RAAF. They in turn despatched him to join No. 3 Squadron RAAF in Egypt on 9 Sep 1941. The Squadron which operated Tomahawk aircraft had recently returned from Syria to Egypt and was established at Sidi Haneish from where it operated in the second Syrian campaign (this time against Italian and German forces). Soon after they began to receive replacement Kittyhawk aircraft, which saw a changed role from being a pure fighter Squadron to a fighter-bomber role. In January 1942 the squadron was operating from a landing ground at Antclat, south of Benghazi

When the Africa Corps again began to push British forces back towards Egypt, No. 3 Squadron was back at Gambut, half way between Tobruk and Bardia. During March the unit was withdrawn from operations and given leave, but within a month it was back in action. On 25 May a heavy German bombing attack took place as the Axis forces started their final offensive designed to take Egypt and the Suez Canal. Initially the Allies retreated, with No. 3 Squadron falling back to Amiriya west of Alexandria, flying numerous sorties each day. While the line at El Alamein was being held the squadron flew numerous sorties as fighters to support the bombers. The Allied forces, commenced an offensive on 23 Nov 1942 and the Squadron started a long hard campaign, finally being based at Kairouan in Tunisia on 18 Apr 1943. At this point Warwick returned to Australia while the Squadron moved to Malta and then Italy. Warwick sailed from Egypt for Melbourne on 1 Mar 1943, and arrived in Melbourne on 21 Mar 1943. where he was posted to the No. 1 Embarkation Depot RAAF. From here he returned to the Western Australia based No. 5 Embarkation Depot RAAF on 14 Apr 1943. On his return from Eypt Warwick had applied for Commissioned rank, but his request was turned down in July 1943.

Warwick's next posting was to the No. 2 Operational Training Unit RAAF from 23 May 1943 until 25 Sep 1943 when he again joined No. 25 (City of Perth) Squadron RAAF. On 23 Jan 1945 he was posted to No. 17 Repair & Salvage Unit RAAF also at Pearce, returning to No. 25 (City of Perth) Squadron RAAF on 3 Jan 1946. His next posting, on 16 Apr 1946 was to the Care and Maintenance Unit at Cunderdin where Warwick had indicated that he was interested in joining the provisonal airforce that was being established. However, he withdrew his application on 5 Aug 1946 when offered a lucrative civilian opportunity and he was discharged on 9 Sep 1946.