Flying Officer Alexander Glenn Jennison, No. 10 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Australian War MemorialAlexander Jennison was born on 18 February 1911 in Mathoura, New South Wales. Affectionately known as “Brin”, he was one of five children born to grazier Joseph Barraclough Jennison and his wife Jessie. He received his education at Mathoura State School, and later at Geelong College, where he was a boarder until 1925. On completion of his schooling, he returned to Mathoura and began working on his father’s property, named “Dunblane”. He was working there at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Alexander Jennison enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve on 8 October 1940. He was accepted into the Air Force on 21 June 1941, and travelled to the town of Somers where he undertook his initial training. He undertook further training at Western Junction and Mallala in northern New South Wales before returning to Victoria in early 1942. There, he attended the General Reconnaissance School at Laverton for three months before joining the seaplane training squadron on 15 June 1942. Two months later, he married a local woman named Sheila Martin at St Andrews Church in Echuca.
On 3 October 1942, Jennison boarded a flight from Brisbane, destined for the United Kingdom. When he arrived, he joined No. 10 Squadron at their base in Mount Batten, near Plymouth, where he earned the nickname “Pop”. Equipped with Sunderland flying boats, Jennison’s squadron was responsible for locating and destroying German submarines, as well as undertaking air-sea rescue and transport missions, and convoy duties. Jennison’s first operations took place around the Bay of Biscay, hunting German submarines moving from bases in France to the Atlantic.
On 21 September 1943, Jennison was pilot of an 11-man crew which took off from Mount Batten to undertake routine operations over the Atlantic. During their journey, they sent though an incomplete combat report to base, simply stating the name of a German fighter aircraft. After this message was received, the aircraft failed to return to base and was never seen again. Despite attempts to locate Jennison and his crew, they were later presumed to have been shot down over the Atlantic sea. Flying Officer Jennsion would never meet his only son, John, who was three months old at the time. The squadron’s commanding officer, Wing Commander Geoffrey Hartnell, later wrote to Jennison’s widow:
“Pop was one of the best liked members of the squadron. His cheery smile and happy manner made him extremely popular among us all. I personally have memories I shall never forget as both of our sons were presented to us at roughly the same time and we had a standing feud on their relative weights from time to time. Although your son will grow up without having seen his father, he may do so knowing that never did a man have a father of whom he could be more proud. I know the thoughts of the whole squadron are very much with you at this time and I would like you to accept theirs and my deepest sympathy.”
Today, Flying Officer Jennison is commemorated alongside his fellow crewmen at the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, England.
He was 32 years old.
- AWM Honour roll https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1721105
