War time service for Peter Groom leads to a lifetime in Maryborough

World War Two veteran reflects on his life in the Heritage City.

Peter Groom holds a photo of his younger self of when he served in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm during World War Two. Photo: Stuart Fast

Visiting the Maryborough Airport brought back memories for 96-year-old World War Two veteran Peter Groom.

Seeing the work the Maryborough Military Aviation Museum had done in restoring a World War Two CAC Wackett aircraft transported him to his time in the British Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm when his squadron was based at the Maryborough airfield.

“I was a sub-lieutenant, I trained as a navigator and when I was here in Maryborough, we were flying Sea Otters, for air sea rescue,” Mr Groom said.

“We came here in 1945 and there were about 2000 men here at the airfield at the time … We did a lot of patrols around aircraft carriers while they were practising landings and things like that. We did a lot of VIP travel, taking people to Fraser Island where the commandos were being trained.”

He said the Royal Navy set up a mobile naval air base at the Maryborough airfield following the defeat of Nazi Germany while the war in the Pacific against Japan was still ongoing.

While in Australia, Mr Groom got married and travelled to England with his wife, only to return with her to Maryborough in 1950.

“I became a schoolteacher at Maryborough West State School, which was great I enjoyed that enormously … I was also interested in music and I did quite a lot of playing around the place,” he said.

Making the decision to stay was the right one for Mr Groom who reflected on a life well lived in the Heritage City.

Originally published as War time service for Peter Groom leads to a lifetime in Maryborough