Improvised medal: Flying Officer Eric Robert Staley, 4 Squadron, RAAF

Improvised medal made from the lid of a peanut tin. It is inscribed in coloured pencil with 'NADZAB CROSS FOR VALOUR F/O R STALEY Into The mouth of DEATH 14 SEP WIRRA'. The medal has a horizontal slot cut into the upper section and has been mounted onto a square backing and covered with a clear plastic film.

This improvised medal made from the lid of a peanut tin was presented to 401679 Flying Officer Eric Robert (Bob) Staley by his comrades after completing a dangerous flying mission in which he delivered captured enemy documents detailing the evacuation plans and routes of the Japanese Army’s 51 Division withdrawal from Lae. Fellow 4 Squadron members who presented the medal to him suggested that 'on formal occasions the decoration should be worn on the uniform with one bar of string'.

He was Mentioned in Dispatches for this action and the citation reads: 'On the night of the 14th September, 1943, in very bad weather conditions with heavy rain, Flying Officer STALEY took off in a Wirraway aircraft to deliver captured enemy documents to Headquarters, New Guinea Force. He passed through an enemy bombing raid on the Morobi area and was unable to land at Dobodura as a raid was expected. He endeavoured to proceed to Port Moresby, but owing to the weather conditions he was unable to find his way through the gap in the ranges. He returned to Dobodura and eventually landed in the wake of a night fighter for whom a flare path had been laid.

'Although weather conditions were considerably worse, after refuelling, he again took off and this time succeeded in locating the gap and landed at Port Moresby at 0130 hours on the 15th September, 1943.

'By his courage, skill and dogged perseverance, Flying Officer STALEY delivered the documents which resulted in an important development in the strategy of the Allied Forces.’

This action was widely reported in the Australian press within the week ('Dramatic Flight by Wirraway'; 'Hazardous Flight By Wirraway - Pilot Gets Through With Vital Documents').

Staley was born on 14 August 1911 in Bristol, England. He enlisted as an aircraftman on 28 March 1941 in Melbourne and was posted to 2 Initial Training School. He was commissioned pilot officer in November and promoted to flying officer in May 1942. Staley served with various training units in Australia before joining 4 Squadron at Bomana, New Guinea on 1 August 1943. He was promoted to flight lieutenant on 17 November.

During an artillery reconnaissance flight in the Mount Kubari area near Shaggy Ridge on 31 December, Staley’s aircraft crashed, without explanation, into the side of a hill and caught fire. The following day the crash site was located by a patrol from B Troop, 2/6 Australian Cavalry Commando Squadron who buried Staley’s body nearby. He was later interred at the Lae War Cemetery.

In the last letter he wrote to his wife, earlier that day, he said 'today is the last of 1943. I wonder what will happen next year.... From tomorrow I will be up with the forward troops for a week.'