Flt Lt William Olof Grut
(1907 - 1980)
Profile
William Oluf Grut is born in Denmark, but of Swedish nationality. He volunteers for the Malayan Volunteer Air Force as well as for the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War.
William Olof Grut is born on 2 November 1907 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is of Swedish nationality, though.
He is among the men working for United Plantations in Malaysia before the war, who is trained as pilots and who volunteer for the Malayan Volunteer Air Force as the Japanese turn on South-East Asia.
He makes a narrow escape from Malaysia and arrives in Sydney on NIAGARA in company of his wife, Annetta Mary and son Nils Peter on 1 June 1940.
He enlists for the Royal Australian Air Force on 12 September 1942 in Melbourne. He is discharged on 30 April 1945 at which point he is attached to No. 1 Aircraft Performance Unit holding the rank of Flight Lieutenant
(www.ww2roll.gov.au; www.naa.gov.au).