AWARDED D.F.C.

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 16, 19 July 1943, Page 4

AWARDED D.F.C.

NEW ZEALANDER IN-BURMA With the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to Warrant Officer Huon Andrew Chandler, R.N.Z.A.F., of Westport, ■ Burma, enters the . already wide field where New Zealanders have won decorations for gallantry in the. air. "Warrant- Officer Chandler has taken; part ■in many • operational sorties over enemy- 'territory m Burma," states official advice received by the Air ' Department,' Wellington. "On one occasion he was forced--■to land just north of the enemy's lines after the engine of his -..aircraft had been hit by anti-aircraft fire.*, Another time, when returning from an attack on Japanese shipping, his ammunition all gone; he was set on by Japanese fighters. He was wounded in the head and his aircraft was hit several' times, but, with fortitude and skill, he managed to get back safely. In air combat he has destroyed one enemy bomber. He has always pressed home his attacks with fearlessness and determination and has set a magnificent example.? ■ . ' In civil life a clerk m the Customs Office in Westport. Warrant Officer Chandler will be 25 years of age next October. He was born in Granity and educated there and )at Reefton District High School. His father is Mr. H Chandler, North Beach, Westport.