Danish WW2 Pilots

Flt Lt William Theodor Malling worked for the East Asiatic Company in Singapore, when the Japanese attacked in December 1941. Shortly before the surrender in February 1942, he evacuated to India, initially, where he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He served in South Africa.

Ida Marie (or Tina) O’Brien drove ambulance in France during the First World War and a Yellow Cab in Los Angeles in the 1940s until she enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1944. Born in Copenhagen in 1895, she lived an eventful life both before and after emigrating to the USA. She was one of twenty-nine Danish born women to volunteer for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).

Three Danish women served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. The Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force was created in mid-1941 and became the Women’s Division, an integral part of RCAF, in 1942.

Eighteen Danes served in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War. For most Danes in the Allied forces their service was connected—more or less directly—to the fight for the liberation of Danish. For those in Australian service, the stakes were different, and their service was perhaps more linked to the defence of their new country from the Japanese threat.