William Ellis Newton, VC (8 June 1919 – 29 March 1943) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British and Commonwealth armed forces.
Born in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda on 8 June 1919, Bill Newton was the youngest child of dentist Charles Ellis Newton and his second wife Minnie.
His three older half-siblings from Charles' earlier marriage included two brothers, John and Lindsay, and a sister, Phyllis.
1929
Bill entered Melbourne Grammar School in 1929, but two years later switched to the nearby St Kilda Park Central School as the family income was reduced through the impact of the Great Depression.
1934
In 1934, aged fifteen, he was able to return to Melbourne Grammar where, despite struggling with his schoolwork, he completed his Intermediate certificate.
He gave up further study when his father died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of fifty-one, and began working in a silk warehouse.
Considered while at school to be a future leader in the community, Newton was also a talented all-round sportsman, playing cricket, Australian rules football, golf and water polo.
1937
A fast bowler in cricket, he was friends with Keith Miller, and collected the Victorian Cricket Association (VCA) Colts bowling trophy for 1937–38; Miller collected the equivalent batting prize.
He had earlier attempted to enlist when he turned eighteen in 1937, but his mother refused to give her permission; with Australia now at war, she acquiesced.
His brothers—dentists by profession, like their father—also enlisted in the armed forces, John as a surgeon lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy and Lindsay as a captain in the Army Medical Corps.
Newton undertook his initial training with No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School in Parafield, South Australia, flying De Havilland Tiger Moths, and with No. 21 (City of Melbourne) Squadron at RAAF Station Laverton, Victoria, flying CAC Wirraways.
1938
He joined the Citizen Military Forces in 1938, and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in February 1940.
In January 1938, Newton dismissed Test batsman Bill Ponsford—still the only Australian to have twice scored 400 in a first-class innings —for four in a Colts game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The following year, he gained selection in the Victorian Second XI.
He opened the bowling against the New South Wales Second XI—his first and only match—taking a total of 3/113 including the wickets of Ron Saggers and Arthur Morris who, like Miller, went on to become members of the Invincibles.
Newton had been a sergeant in his cadet corps at school, and joined the Citizens Military Force on 28 November 1938, serving as a private in the machine-gun section of the 6th Battalion, Royal Melbourne Regiment.
1940
Still employed in the silk warehouse when World War II broke out in September 1939, he resigned to join the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 5 February 1940.
He was awarded his wings and commissioned as a pilot officer on 28 June 1940.
Following advanced training on Avro Ansons with No. 1 Service Flying Training School at RAAF Point Cook in September, he was selected to become a flight instructor.
He completed the requisite course at Central Flying School in Camden, New South Wales, and was promoted to flying officer on 28 December.
He subsequently began training students under the Empire Air Training Scheme at No. 2 Service Flying Training School near Wagga Wagga, under the command of Group Captain Frederick Scherger.
1941
In October 1941, Newton transferred to No. 5 Service Flying Training School at Uranquinty.
He found instruction frustrating, as he longed for a combat assignment.
1942
Described as having the dash of "an Errol Flynn or a Keith Miller", Newton served as a flying instructor in Australia before being posted to No. 22 Squadron, which began operating Boston light bombers in New Guinea late in 1942.
Having just taken part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, he was on his fifty-second mission when he was shot down and captured.
Newton was the only Australian airman to receive a Victoria Cross for action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, and the sole Australian to be so decorated while flying with an RAAF squadron.
His fortunes changed in February 1942, when he was selected for the navigation course on Ansons at the General Reconnaissance School based at Laverton.
From there he was sent to No. 1 Operational Training Unit at Sale, Victoria, for conversion to Lockheed Hudson twin-engined light bombers during March and April.
Promoted to flight lieutenant on 1 April 1942, Newton was posted the following month to No. 22 (City of Sydney) Squadron, based at RAAF Station Richmond, New South Wales.
Previously equipped with Hudsons, the unit had just begun converting to the more advanced Douglas Boston when Newton arrived.
A comrade described him as a "big brash, likeable man who could drink most of us under the table, was a good pilot, good at sports, and had a way with girls".
No. 22 Squadron was engaged in convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols off Sydney from July to September, before moving north to Townsville, Queensland.
In November, it was deployed to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, under the control of No. 9 Operational Group RAAF.
1943
He was honoured for his actions as a bomber pilot in Papua New Guinea during March 1943 when, despite intense anti-aircraft fire, he pressed home a series of attacks on the Salamaua Isthmus, the last of which saw him forced to ditch his aircraft in the sea.
Newton was still officially posted as missing when the award was made in October 1943.
It later emerged that he had been taken captive by the Japanese, and executed by beheading on 29 March.
Raised in Melbourne, Newton excelled at sport, playing cricket at youth state level.
Newton undertook the first of his fifty-two operational sorties on 1 January 1943, under the leadership of his commanding officer, Squadron Leader Keith Hampshire.
During February, Newton flew low-level missions through monsoon conditions and hazardous mountain terrain, attacking Japanese forces ranged against Allied troops in the Morobe province.
In early March, he took part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, one of the key engagements in the South West Pacific theatre, bombing and strafing Lae airfield to prevent its force of enemy fighters taking off to intercept Allied aircraft attacking the Japanese fleet.
