Portal:Military history of Australia/Selected biography/14

William Ellis (Bill) Newton, VC (8 June 1919 – 29 March 1943) was a Royal Australian Air Force bomber pilot and Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to a member of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. He was honoured for his actions while serving with No. 22 Squadron RAAF in Papua New Guinea during March 1943 when, despite intense anti-aircraft fire, while flying a Boston light bomber he pressed home a series of attacks on the Salamaua Isthmus, the last of which saw him forced to ditch his aircraft in the sea. Newton was taken captive by the Japanese, and executed by beheading.