RAAF Officer Posthumously Awarded Silver Star

Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Hawk Carlisle posthumously awarded Royal Australian Air Force Flying Officer Edward Mobsby the Silver Star—the Defense Department’s third highest award for valor in combat—at a ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra last week, reported the Canberra Times. Carlisle presented the award to Mobsby’s daughters Jenny Read and Rae Rayner on March 14. Mobsby was copilot of a B-25 Mitchell on July 26, 1942, when the aircraft was shot down over the Pacific near Papua New Guinea, killing all five crew members. Mobsby’s squadron officer put in a recommendation for the crew to receive the Silver Star. The US Army Air Corps awarded four of the crewmembers the medal in the 1940s, but there was a delay with Mobsby’s application. There was an “administrative oversight,” an Air Force spokeswoman told the newspaper. Since 1943, Mobsby’s family fought to get this issue resolved. “By formally presenting Flying Officer Mobsby’s family his Silver Star, we have an opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the gallantry and courage he exhibited alongside his American crew members so many years ago,” said the spokeswoman.