Maurice Whitehead was the son of Allan and Muriel Whitehead of Feilding. He enlisted in the RNZAF on the 20/03/1943 and was trained as an Air Gunner.

On the 01/01/1944 he was posted to 4 Squadron in Fiji. Between January and November 1944 he flew 67 operations in Hudson Bombers from Fiji, Funafuti and Tonga.

On the 17/11/1944 4 Squadron now flying PV-1 Ventura bombers began operations from Emirau and he completed a further 34 operations including 16 bombing strikes before returning to New Zealand in February 1945.

He returned to the forward area again with 4 Squadron in May 1945 and completed a further 12 operations including 3 strikes from Guadalcanal, Emirau and Los Negros. At the conclusion of hostilities he had completed 113 operations that included 19 strikes and had a total of 757.45 hrs in his log book. He died on the 28/11/1978 aged 54. (Source:Cenotaph Data Entry Form) AWMM