Mick Pullen
North Melbourne
AFL career
4 games1 goals
- Debut
- R16 1943 v HAW28 Aug 1943
- Most recent
- R15 1946 v GEE3 Aug 1946
Stats
Bio
Recruited from West Melbourne in the sub-district leagues, Mick Pullen was a solidly built utility whose brief VFL career was defined by a dramatic interruption during World War II. After breaking into the North Melbourne side in 1943, Pullen traded his guernsey for a flight suit, serving as a co-pilot with the RAAF. His service included a harrowing ordeal in May 1945 when his Liberator bomber ditched in the Bay of Bengal, forcing him to cling to wreckage for 14 hours before being rescued by a US Catalina flying boat. He displayed incredible resilience to recover and play a final game for the Shinboners in 1946, leaving the club as a player whose contribution is best measured by his survival and return to the field rather than his raw statistics.
Profile
- Born
- 07 Jan 1921
- Died
- 26 Oct 1969 (aged 48y 292d)
- Birthplace
- North Melbourne, VIC
- Deathplace
- Camberwell, VIC
- Height
- 185 cm
- Weight
- 84 kg
Teams
Bio
1 revisionRecruited from West Melbourne in the sub-district leagues, Mick Pullen was a solidly built utility whose brief VFL career was defined by a dramatic interruption during World War II. After breaking into the North Melbourne side in 1943, Pullen traded his guernsey for a flight suit, serving as a co-pilot with the RAAF. His service included a harrowing ordeal in May 1945 when his Liberator bomber ditched in the Bay of Bengal, forcing him to cling to wreckage for 14 hours before being rescued by a US Catalina flying boat. He displayed incredible resilience to recover and play a final game for the Shinboners in 1946, leaving the club as a player whose contribution is best measured by his survival and return to the field rather than his raw statistics.