- Lionel Rees
Group Captain Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees VC OBE MC AFC RAF (31 July 1884 –28 September 1955 ) was a Welsh recipient of theVictoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.Early life
The son of an army officer, Rees was born in Plas Llanwnda, Castle Street,
Caernarfon in 1884. Rees attendedEastbourne College before entering the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He was commissioned in 1903 with theRoyal Garrison Artillery . In 1912 he learned to fly at his own expense, receiving his pilot certificate in January 1913. By 1913-14 Rees was attached to theWest African Frontier Force when he was seconded to theRoyal Flying Corps in August 1914, initially as an instructor atUpavon . He first saw action flying theVickers Gunbus with No. 11 Squadron RFC in the summer of 1915, earning a reputation as an aggressive pilot and an above average marksman.He was 31 years old and a Temporary
Major in No. 32 Squadron RFC, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.Victoria Cross
:"On
1 July 1916 atDouble Crassieurs ,France , Major Rees, whilst on flying duties, sighted what he thought was a bombing party of our machines returning home, but were in fact enemy aircraft. Major Rees was attacked by one of them, but after a short encounter it disappeared, damaged. The others then attacked him at long range, but he dispersed them, seriously damaging two of the machines. He chased two others but was wounded in the thigh, temporarily losing control of his aircraft. He righted it and closed with the enemy, using up all his ammunition, firing at very close range. He then returned home, landing his aircraft safely".Military Cross
Before winning his VC, Lionel Rees had been awarded the
Military Cross for his actions, gazetted as follows.:"For conspicuous gallantry and skill on several occasions, notably the following: — On 21st September, 1915, when flying a machine with one machine gun, accompanied by Flight-Serjeant Hargreaves, he sighted a large German biplane with two machine guns 2,000 feet below him. He spiralled down and dived at the enemy, who, having the faster machine, manoeuvred to get him broadside on and then opened heavy fire. In spite of this Captain Rees pressed his attack and apparently succeeded in hitting the enemy's engine, for the machine made a quick turn, glided some distance and finally fell just inside the German lines near Herbecourt.
:On 28th July he attacked and drove down a hostile monoplane in spite of the fact that the main spar of his machine had been shot through and the rear spar shattered.
:On 31st August, accompanied by Flight-Sergeant Hargreaves, he fought a German machine more powerful than his own for three-quarters of an hour, then returned for more ammunition and went out to the attack again, finally bringing the enemy's machine down apparently wrecked."By this time he had claimed 1 aircraft captured, 1 destroyed, 1 'forced to land' and 5 'driven down'. [ 'Above the Trenches'; Shores, Franks and Guest, page 316]
For the remainder of hostilities Rees commanded the
Air Fighting School based atAyr . In 1919 he was honoured with the O.B.E. and in 1920 his home town of Caernarfon made him a Freeman of the Borough.Rees retired from the RAF in 1931 with the rank of Group Captain. When WWII broke out, Rees returned to the UK and once again joined the RAF as a Wing Commander and was posted to command an aerodrome in the Middle East.In December 1942 Rees was invalided out of the RAF and returned to the Bahamas. In 1947 aged 62, he met and married a young local girl and they had three children, prior to his death in 1955 from
leukemia .References
*
Against the Odds - the life of Group Captain Lionel Rees, VC (W. Alister Williams)
*Monuments To Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
*VCs of the First World War - Air VCs (P G Cooksley, 1999)External links
* [http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/wales/rees.html www.theaerodrome.com - Lionel Rees]
*findagrave|7723731
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