By John Telfer
My last locally-published story on the tribute to those brave airmen of World War 2 who qualified for membership of “The Caterpillar Club” and, the equally famous “Gold Fish Club”, (WDN 22nd April), stirred up a lot of memories for some readers. It appeared that I had unknowingly missed one Southern Downs man who was also a Caterpillar Club member. Thanks to Jenny Rauchle, President of the Leyburn Historical Society – I will attempt to correct my earlier story. The man I overlooked was Warrant Officer Marcus Mahony, an Air Gunner from Leyburn, who qualified over Germany in November 1943, when he bailed out of a Wellington bomber on his 7th mission. So, with apologies, here is his unique story of bravery and survival.
Marcus Mahony – ‘The One That Got Away’…
Marcus Mahony was born in Toowoomba, Queensland on 16th April 1921, the only son of Mark and Ethlene Mahony, a Stock and Station Agent at Leyburn, a small country town on the Darling Downs. Later, a sister named Alexis completed the family.
Marcus received his early education in the small, one-teacher, Leyburn State School where he passed his scholarship exams and was then enrolled at Brisbane’s Nudgee College to complete his secondary education. Marcus never liked the boarding school environment and endured the harsh discipline while he stayed to complete his Junior Certificate unsuccessfully, before leaving school at 15 to take up employment in a timber mill, and later hay bailing, a very physical type of work where bales of wheat had to be manually hurled on to the trucks for transport to the flour mills. He later met a man from Dubbo who had purchased ‘Boonidoon’, a sheep and cattle station at Toolburra, near Warwick, who gave him employment working as a Jackeroo.
In 1941, with Australia now involved in World War 2, Marcus, like many young men answered the call to serve. When Marcus went to Brisbane to enlist, he brought home the enlistments papers for his parents to sign but at first they did not want to sign them, as he was only 19 and had to get parental permission Eventually, Marcus persisted and they reluctantly signed them and, while waiting for his call up he worked for a short time in a Toowoomba foundry. He was finally accepted into the Royal Australian Air Force on 18th July 1942 as a trainee Wireless Operator.
Marcus was first posted to RAAF Sandgate for his initial training before going to RAAF Maryborough, for wireless training. Marcus found the complexities of Morse code difficult and was re-mustered to Air Gunner and posted to the air gunnery school at Evans Head in northern New South Wales, where he qualified and was promoted to sergeant. After a short time, back to Sandgate and Bradfield Park in Sydney, before sailing overseas to England for combat duties.
After landing in San Francisco in the United States and a great trip overland, Marcus and his group were sent back overseas to Scotland before finally heading to a staging camp in Brighton, England.
After a period of training on Wellington bombers Marcus was mustered into aircrew with 49 Squadron considered ready for combat duties. However, owing to the hazardous flying conditions in England it was not an easy task. Weather conditions such as fog, rain and icy periods, many Wellington aircrews had to fly using FIDO (Fog and dispersal operation) when attempting a landing in dense fog and only guided by two parallel bars of fire, one on each side of the runaway. Sometimes these fire guides reflected on the pilot’s windscreen which made it difficult to see as their aircraft approached the runaway and could overshoot the landing.
On 3rd November 1943, Marcus was involved in a serious landing incident under heavy fog when a member of a Lancaster crew piloted by Australian Sergeant R.J. Richardson. They crashed on landing with Marcus and another member the only survivors. Marcus, fortunately, only suffered injuries to his hand.
Marcus’s luck ran out when on his 7th mission over Germany, the Lancaster bomber he was in, collided with another of the 27 Lancasters on the mission. Forced to bail out, Marcus managed to free himself, but on reaching the ground got caught up in a tree. In freeing himself, Marcus fell 30 feet out of the tree and seriously injured his back. With German search parties sent out to look for downed airmen, Marcus was forced to surrender himself as his back injury seriously affected his attempt to evade his captors.
After receiving medical treatment for his back, Marcus was sent to Lubeck near the Baltic sea and after other forced movements to other POW camps in Hamburg, Dulag Luft, and finally, ending up in Stalag Luft IVB at Mullenberg, on the Elb River, near Saxony. Marcus stated that the treatment was not too bad and that the Red Cross parcels helped sustain him in his period as a prisoner of war. Marcus recollected that in his camp there were about 600 Air Force personnel and around 25,000 men of various allied nations incarcerated there. When Marcus’s freedom came about by the Americans in 1945, he, along with many other POW’s were flown back to Brussels, then by Lancaster to England.
After arriving back in Australia in January 1946, Marcus was discharged from the RAAF on 15th February 1946, and went to work with the Commonwealth Department of Works as a carpenter and stayed there until his retirement. In 1947 he married Mamie Reibelt in St Mary’s Catholic church on 18th October 1947, and together they raised three boys in Barry, Patrick and Shaun.
Marcus was a true Anzac and certainly a member of the caterpillar club. Like all those many heroes who passed before him, Marcus deserves his place in Australian military history. After his beloved wife Mamie passed away in 1987, Marcus lived on until his death on 24th October 2016, and now both lie at rest in the Toowoomba General cemetery.
LEST WE FORGET.
