Son of George and Mary Preston.
684 Squadron was formed on 29th September 1943 specifically as a reconnaissance unit. It was partof 231 Group RAF, Air Command South East Asia producing valuable information in support of the campaign in Burma. .
Warrant Officer Preston was the navigator of Mosquito NS524 that was on a flight from Alipore, now a neighbourhood south west of central Kolkata to Cox’s Bazar near the border with Burma. The aircraft failed to arrive, and was assumed to have crashed in the Bay of Bengal during heavy monsoon weather. He is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, Column 449.
Singapore Memorial stands in Kranji War Cemetery. It bears the names of more than 24,000 casualties of the land and air forces of the Commonwealth who died during the campaigns in Malaya and Indonesia or in subsequent captivity and have no known grave. The memorial also commemorates airmen who died during operations over the whole of southern and eastern Asia and the surrounding seas and oceans.
After the surrender of Singapore, the Kranji area was used as a prisoner of war camp by the Japanese and this cemetery was begun by the Commonwealth prisoners at the camp. In 1946, it was decided that Kranji would be designated as Singapore’s main war cemetery.
Both the Singapore Memorial and Kranji War Cemetery were designed by Colin St Clair Oakes It was unveiled on 2 March 1957 by Sir Robert Black, Governor of Singapore
