How long is it since you've stopped to look at the photos and stories of the diggers on the walls of Club Forbes?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This Saturday, November 11, marks 105 years since the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare of World War I.
The community is invited to gather at the Cenotaph from 10.30am to pay their respects to our nation's service men and women - and it's a fitting time to reflect on those from our community who served.
Forbes' own flying ace, Group Captain Elwyn Roy King, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Order.
Roy, the eldest child of Richard and Elizabeth King, spent his childhood in Forbes with his brothers, Dick and Charles, and sister Daisy, his story at the club reveals.
The young motor mechanic joined the AIF and left Australia in 1915 as a trooper in the 12th Light Horse, serving in Egypt and in the Sinai Peninsula.
He applied to be a mechanic in planes and in January 1917 transferred to 68th Squadron in England and later to the 2nd Australian Flying Corps.
King first passed his exams then learned to fly, then attended a gunnery school in Scotland.
He joined the 4th Australian Flying Corps Squadron in France in March 1918 as a Lieutenant.
The Australian War Memorial records Lt King was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in a series of successful bombing raids on targets near Armentieres, including a train, enemy billets and an anti-aircraft battery, between 4-7 September 1918. He was later also awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
"His record with the squadron was brilliant. He was one of the most efficient patrol leaders in the AF.C. and saw service till the Armistice," the Advocate reported upon King's death, aged just 47, in 1941.
When WWII broke out in 1939 King left his business - T T Shipman, King and Co - and served the Royal Australian Air Force commanding flying training schools and finally as Group Captain at the Point Cook RAAF base where he died suddenly. Capt King was survived by his wife and two children at that time, and the Advocate reported the flag at Town Hall was lowered to half mast that day.
