TROKE, F/L Gordon William Anthony (J15777) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.250 Squadron - Award effective 11 February 1943 as per London Gazette dated 23 February 1943 and AFRO 513/43 dated 26 March 1943. Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, 14 June 1916; home there or in Wolfeville (grocery clerk, truck driver and medical student at Acadia University). His father was a partial cripple from 1929 owing to war wounds so he was a mainstay in the family of five; enlisted in Halifax, 29 August 1940. To No.1 Training Command, 6 October 1940. To No.4 BGS (guard), 6 November 1940. To No.1 ITS, 28 November 1940; graduated and promoted LAC, 3 January 1941 when posted to No.11 EFTS; graduated 19 February 1941; to No.4 Manning Depot, 21 February 1941; to No.1 SFTS, 5 March 1941; graduated and promoted Sergeant, 16 May 1941. To Embarkation Depot, 18 June 1941. Arrived in Britain, 17 July 1941. Posted to No.61 OTU, 19 July 1941 and to No.55 OTU on 28 July 1941. To No.136 Squadron, 15 September 1941; to Middle East Wastage Pool, 1 November 1941. In No.73 Squadron, 15 November to 24 December 1941 (promoted Flight Sergeant, 1 December 1941); in No.250 Squadron, 14 January 1942 to 3 April 1943. Commissioned 4 July 1942; Flying Officer, 4 January 1943; promoted Flight Lieutenant, 4 January 1943 with effect from 22 November 1942. At No.73 OTU, 3 April to 28 December 1943; arrived back in Britain, 2 January 1944. On leave in Canada, 23 February to 4 April 1944; back in Britain 11 April 1944. No.443 Squadron, 30 April to 22 October 1944. Returned to Canada, 27 November 1944. Various short postings in Maritimes area until his release, 18 January 1946. Postwar he finished pre-medical studies but then sold insurance. Award presented 16 April 1948. Rejoined RCAF, 18 June 1951 (40856). To No.104 Flight, St. Hubert, 8 December 1951. To No.1 (Fighter) OTU, 13 January 1952. To No.430 Squadron, 14 March 1952. Killed in flying accident, 24 June 1952 (No.430 Squadron, North Bay; apparently tried to force-land a Sabre after engine failure). Wartime he claimed 167 sorties (202 hours) in North Africa, and his second tour was 134 sorties; total combat time in two tours was 388 hours ten minutes. On 25 August 1942 he was testing a Kittyhawk which had a bearing failure and caught fire; Troke crash-landed but could not reach extinguisher due to flames; it later blew up. Aerial victories as follows: 10 July 1942, one Bf.109E destroyed plus one MC.202 destroyed; 17 November 1942, one He.111 destroyed (shared); 19 November 1942, one Ju.88 destroyed (shared) plus one Bf.109 destroyed; 1 August 1944, one Bf.109 destroyed (shared with Sharman, Herrell, Wegg); 29 September 1944, two Bf.109s destroyed plus one Bf.109 damaged. Photo PL-10240 shows him leaning on tail of Kittyhawk. // This officer has skilfully led his flight and the squadron in many sorties. He has destroyed three enemy aircraft, two of which he shot down on one sortie. He has also assisted in the destruction of two more enemy aircraft. Flight Lieutenant Troke has invariably displayed great keenness and devotion to duty. // RCAF Release dated 26 January 1943 from F/L MacGillivray reads: // // Four enemy aircraft destroyed in the air and five on the ground; thirty-one lorries and trucks destroyed in the enemy’s supply lines; and fifty-six dogfights with Hun or Italian aircraft without injury to himself --- these are random gleanings from the logbook of Flight Lieutenant Gordon William Troke of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, athlete and medical student who abandoned his books for the RCAF and who now says that he will never re-open them. // “I could never again concentrate on medical studies,” says the 26-year-old veteran of 185 hours of aerial warfare on the Western desert. “The tempo and tension of combat-flying seem to unfit a chap for that sort of thing.” // Sandwiched between other entries in his log is an incident rare, but not quite unique, in desert flying --- a “mercy landing” behind the enemy lines. It occurred when he and another Kittyhawk pilot saw distress flares from the middle of a desolate “salt pan” 90 miles behind the Axis line, and observed a small group of men spreading their clothing on the sand so as to spell the letters “RAF”. Risking a trap, the two pilots landed, and found that the men were the crew of a wrecked British Wellington bomber. They gave them water, emergency rations, and other equipment, and subsequently learned that the bomber crew eventually arrived safely back inside the British lines. // Troke’s most vivid recollection since he went “on ops” in the Middle East in October, 1941, is of a day during the present winter when he and two other Kittyhawk pilots tangled with no less than 78 enemy aircraft, and Troke alone returned to base --- “so shaken”, he says “that for several days I had to force myself to fly”. // With Sergeant Arthur Nitz of Flint, Michigan, a second American-born RCAF pilot, and an English squadron-mate, Troke had set out to strafe enemy supply-lines at Sidi Barani, when they came upon four Ju52’s. The four Kittyhawk lads didn’t fool. Nitz shot down two in short order, Troke got one, and the English pilot finished off the fourth. Then they turned their attention to the enemy lorries, and destroyed four before turning homeward. That was when things started to happen. // “We had got separated from Nitz”, Troke recalls, “and suddenly the other American lad yelled to me over the RT: ‘Hey. There’s an Eye-tie on your tail’. It was a Macchi 202, but before I could do anything myself the Yank had shot it down. Then two more of them tackled us. We climbed, and the next moment we were startled to spot a huge formation of Huns overhead. We counted 30 Stukas and 48 escorting Me109’s. The English lad, who was nearest, went right into the Jerries without hesitation, and immediately we were literally swallowed up. I saw one Jerry dive on the American and blow him clean out of the sky, while the English boy went down almost as fast, and was taken prisoner. I was luckier. I managed to hit and damage the Hun who had got the American, and then five 109’s broke off and took after me. Believe me, I didn’t stick around. For eighty miles, those blighters chased me until I succeeded in hiding in rain-clouds. Once safely inside the cover, I circled around for fully ten minutes before daring to emerge. Luckily, they had gone, so I was able to head home. There I found Nitz, our fourth man, safe.” // Previously, Troke had destroyed two enemy aircraft in one day – a 109 and a 202, in a scrap near El Daba. His remaining claims were two “halves” – a Heinkel III near Benina shared with Flight Sergeant Alastair Orr of St. Lambert, Quebec, and a Ju88 shared with F/O James Collier of Toronto and Portage La Prairie. In addition, he damaged a number of other aircraft in the 56 combats which he has recorded in his log. But never once to date – and the good-natured Maritimer carefully touches wood when this point is raised – has his aircraft been shot up in combat. Several times it has been damaged by ground-fire, but never disabled. // Troke was in this third year at Acadia University when he entered the RCAF on August 29, 1940, getting his wings at Camp Borden. A versatile athlete, he had rejected a professional baseball try-out, and had made a reputation as a sprinter and rugger player before entering his medical course. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Troke of Wolfville.