Australia Service Medal: Group Captain William Henry Garing, RAAF

Australia Service medal: Impressed around edge with recipient's details.

William Garing was an inspirational leader with a passion for mastering new types of aircraft. Piloting a Sunderland flying boat over the North Atlantic, he gained considerable experience in air-sea operations. In June 1940 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for holding off five German aircraft that had been attacking an armed merchant cruiser. In September 1940 he went to extraordinary lengths to find a missing lifeboat from the torpedoed SS City of Benares, saving over 40 crew and passengers.
Garing put his experience to good use in the Pacific theatre, initially re-organising RAAF squadrons defending New Guinea. His leadership helped defeat the Japanese landing at Milne Bay in August 1942, and in March 1943, he played a major role in co-ordinating air strikes on Japanese troopships transporting reinforcements across the Bismarck Sea to Northern New Guinea. Japanese troop and ship losses were so great that they were never again able to land troops in New Guinea.