World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseAndrew James Wray Geddes was born in Belgaum, India to Anglo-Indian Army Major Malcolm Henry Burdett Geddes. In 1926, he graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, England, United Kingdom and joined the Royal Artillery. In 1928, he transferred to the Royal Air Force and was subsequently trained to fly the Bristol F.2 fighter and the Armstrong Whitworth Atlas army cooperation aircraft. Between 1932 and 1935, he served with the Royal Artillery once again. In 1935, he was made a flight commander of No. 2 Squadron RAF at RAF Manston in Kent, England. In 1938, he was made a squadron commander. In 1943, although not on the active roster of the British Army, he was promoted to the rank of an army major. Between 1943 and 1944, he was the head of Operations and Plans of the Second Tactical Air Force RAF. In 1944, he assisted in the planning of Operation Overlord, the Allied amphibious invasion of France, personally flying a photographic observation mission over the invasion beaches shortly after they became secure. In the spring of 1945 he was placed in charge of the planning of Operation Manna, an effort to drop by air food and other supplies for the Dutch population. In 1945, he formally ended his career with the British Army. He retired from the Royal Air Force in Sep 1954 at the rank of air commodore. He worked in local government for some years and passed away in Dec 1988.

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